Newcomers' Initiation
by LordLenne
Summary: Newcomers to the Brawl are put to initiation in the Brawl world to test survival. Every newcomer is given one partner to help them. For Lucas, he is partnered with Ness, a boy who he'll come to love. NessXLucas yaoi/shounen-ai. Will contain lemons. Fanart cover by the great Memorii Makiko!
1. Everyone Gathered

**Lenne**: WOOOOOOOO

Okay anyways, this is a new story that came up in my dreams. I'm sure you'll all love it. I'm not exactly an expert in romance in the environment of nature (just read the story if you question it) but because I just love this idea, expect some frequent updates (then slows down so I can have game breaks or derphomework and whatever)

So right now, all I can say is, GTFO if you hate yaoi, ages of everyone are normal as usual, a lemon chapter will be stated before you read when there is one, concept of Smash Mansion is used here (derp), feed Kirby some strawberry cake, frogs go moo,

and enjoy!

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><p><span>Chapter 1: Everyone Gathered<span>

Everything felt strange in this box of silver metal. There was nothing in this room but seats stuck to the walls, an air conditioner flowing enough air, and wandering people, from tall and heroic like to a short helmeted spaceman. There was even a robot who was sitting there, eyes closed, as if he was charging on energy. Another was some kind of penguin figure with a hammer trying to chat with a small rounded man with a mask. I didn't know anyone here.

I sat here in a cold, lonely seat, looking at the people who were trying to talk to each other or just standing or sitting, waiting for some event to happen. I could tell everyone was pretty bored, since it has been about thirty minutes since all of us were somehow summoned here. There was a blonde haired woman in a tight light blue suit who was kicking at the wall.

"Urgh!" she grunted as her foot stamped the metal. "I shouldn't even be here; I'm already a part of the team!" She released her anger by a few more kicks and blasted the ground with a sort of gun, but the blast merely dissolved into the metal and caused a small ripple. "Just where the hell is Master Hand already?"

"Hey, we're all bored too," said a blue-haired swordsman. He let his radiant sword pierce the metal ground and let it sit.

"Well, since we're waiting," said a man with a thin headband. "How about you and me chat about our future?"

The woman showed the man's face her palm. "Forget it, not interested."

I could tell there were already a lot of interesting people here. Some who scared me were one that had a big, pink nose. And his mouth was so large it looked like he could eat anything. He saw me glance at him but I instantly moved my eyes away, hoping he didn't think I was being suspicious or anything. I looked down at my hand, buzzing a small sparkle from my PSI powers. Soon, a boy in green clothes came up to my right side. His cat eyes and grin felt friendly to me.

"Hi there, I'm Toon Link. You can call me T-L."

"I-I'm Lucas," I replied, shyly.

"Nice to meet you, Lucas." He held his hand out to shake with mine. I responded back with my hand, and then noticed a handle on his back. To carry on a conversation and not let any question come after an awkward silence, I had to ask.

"Is that a sword on your back?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah." He drew it and showed it to me. "Cool, huh?"

"It's…shiny." The sunny light from the only one light bulb at the top of this room reflected on his sword.

As I continued to look at it, I could hear footsteps gradually increasing in sound. I looked in front of me and saw a capped boy in red clothes and blue jeans, wearing a backpack. Toon Link noticed as well and waved his free right hand. The taller boy stopped and waved his hand, and also spoke.

"Hi guys, I'm the Pokémon Trainer. You can call me Red, though."

Toon Link sheathed his sword. "I'm Toon Link, T-L for short." They both shook hands, and then Red looked at me.

"You?"

"I'm Lucas."

His smile said "nice to meet you". He then spoke to the both of us. "Any of you two know why we're all here?"

"I heard it's because we're invited to some tournament," Toon Link responded. "But we have to wait here for a bit, for who knows what."

"I overheard that lady over there that it's for some kind of test of knowledge," said Red.

"What? I hate having to take tests involving writing," retorted the green clothed boy.

"I don't think it's a writing test," I said. "Maybe for…a combat test or something, since all of us have weapons."

A different voice responded to my statement. "You're right." A boy with angel wings in clothes I don't know the name of walked up to us. "We're going to be taking a survival test, to see if we're fit for the tournament."

"And who are you?" asked Toon Link, in a half-friendly and half-rude tone.

"I'm Pit, nice to meet ya."

"I'm Red. And this is Toon Link, and Lucas." Both of us raised our hands at him.

"So what kind of survival test are we taking?" asked Toon Link.

Pit looked at the large space within the room. Then he looked back at us. "We're just going to be sent to some large area where we have to live on out for a certain amount of time, so I heard. If we live long enough, we pass."

"Sounds easy," said Red.

Pit chuckled. "Yeah, sounds easy. Doing it, depends."

"Surviving will be a piece of cake. Heck, I had to live on potions and soup where I'm from," Toon Link bragged.

"Really?" questioned Red. "Where are you from?"

"Outcast Island."

"Never…heard of it," responded Red.

"Me neither," I also said.

"That's because we're all from different worlds," Pit stated. "Not many of us know each other or where they're from. We're all just strangers to one another."

"Well, right now, I don't feel like a stranger to you guys," I stated with a smile.

"Same here. You guys are my first friends," said Toon Link proudly.

As we looked at each other, I glanced past Red at a quick moving ball of blue running on the wall, on the ceiling, back to the other wall, and onto the ground repeatedly. I never saw anyone so fast, and when the others looked at it too, they probably didn't either. A wolf-like man growled at him for a bit.

"Hey, blue runt, you're annoying me!" he roared.

"Well, what'cha gonna do about it werewolf?" I heard.

"WEREWOLF?" he pulled a gun from his pouch and fired it, but the blur of the blue square pattern made it hard to tell if the person was hit or not.

"You're too slow!" he said. He kept annoying the wolf, making him howl from anger. He put away his gun and went closer to the square at nearly the same swift speed, and put his leg out, tripping the guy to what seemed like a blue hedgehog figure. He planted his front face on the ground. The wolf grabbed his back and picked him up, gripping his chest so their faces were equal.

"Who's too slow now?" He was about to punch him until his arm was pulled back by a black and blue fox-like creature with a paw. He shook his head.

"What, you want some too?" refuted the wolf.

"Fighting is not good here." They stared at each other until the wolf man gave a "tch" and let the hedgehog go.

"Sheesh, people can have some anger issues…" whispered Toon Link.

"Hey, I heard that!" yelled the wolf. T-L must have forgotten wolves had high hearing. The three of us chuckled at Toon Link's flinch.

Suddenly, a light began to emit from the other side of the room. A square part of the wall slid down into the ground, revealing white fingers. It slowly approached into the room, and to everyone, was now a giant floating white glove. The metal wall closed back once the ghostly glove was in the room.

"Hello, everyone," said the deep voice. I was surprised at the talking glove, then again, I met other creatures before.

"Master Hand!" yelled the blue suited woman. "Did you make a mistake putting me in here?"

"Ah, Samus. I apologize if you are frustrated, but all newcomers in the list must be tested. I believe you will pass with flying colors, so please be calm."

"…Well, whatever." she said in a calmer voice.

"Everyone please gather, it is time to announce the reason of your arrival to this room." All of us walked away from the walls and went closer to the astonishing floating hand. All of us grouped closer together, standing in feet away from each other, except for Red, Pit, Toon Link and myself, who were close like friends were.

"So tell us the deal, hand," said the wolf.

The hand ignored the rude tone and began his announcement.

"You are all newcomers to the Brawl tournament. All of you will be introduced, to this…" He snapped fingers and blue computer screens appeared to his side, revealing a very large mansion sitting in an enclosed area, next to other astonishing environments.

"This is known as the Smash Mansion," said the hand. "All of you, including already veteran fighters, will live here with full luxury as fighters of the Brawl tournament. You can call this whole area, the world of Brawl." It showed pieces of the land around the house; green grasses at first, but beyond the grass was a beach area, glacial mountains, a volcano, and other environments.

"There is no need to go walk beyond the mansion, rather, you can simply teleport to any desired location within a special place in the mansion. Now, as for regarding the home, this is what you will be given…"

It began showing pictures of the house. It was first the outside, but then inside were huge halls, labels on doors with different names, like "swimming pool area 2" or "game room 2", an auditorium, likely for announcements, the well-kept cafeteria and food choices, and a courtyard in the middle of the house, along with different kinds of decorated bedrooms, probably of other fighters who lived in there, I assumed.

Some of us whispered in amazement, and how incredible living in the house would be. The hand continued talking.

"You all will be welcome to this, free of charge, that is, if you pass the initiation test."

"And just what is the initiation?" asked the penguin figure.

"I'm glad you asked, King Dedede." The penguin jumped at the mentioning of his name. "You all will be put into this area," and the blue screen changed into a new place. It was a normal forest area under the bright sun, with a long flowing river in two of the pictures, and a small sized waterfall in one other one. There was nothing else but clear areas of the white and gray rocks gathered near the river, and clear dirt areas within the forest.

"This is where you are put to the test of survival," said the hand. "You will be given two weeks. If you all manage to survive after two weeks, you are welcome to the Brawl world. If you die, or are close to dying, you are immediately sent back to your worlds, having no memories of your time here."

"So we have to survive on fruits and river water?" asked a monkey with a red hat.

"Not essentially. All of you will be given necessary supplies, such as a campfire kit, a tent making kit, rope, and such. Food items will be included, but only a limited number. The rest you must find for yourselves."

Everyone chattered for a bit again. When it reduced for a slight bit, the floating hand continued.

"This is overall, a fairly easy task. However, I understand that likely some of you will not survive so easily. I prefer you all survive and enjoy the Brawl world. To ensure that, you all will be assigned a veteran fighter to assist you in survival."

"I hope I'm getting Zelda or Peach…" said Samus.

"Ha-ha, maybe, Samus. Anyways, you will all begin tomorrow. Soon, you will be sent to temporary bedrooms with food to rest up for tomorrow, where I will discuss the rules and answer any other questions that may appear in your head unexpectedly. Right now, I will introduce you to your veteran partner." He snapped once again, and the wall behind it slid down at a slower speed than his entrance. Even more and different people stood in the light of the entrance, and they all walked in so that the door could close behind them and block the radiance.

"You may not know who your partners will be, but they will know who you are." The hand floated upwards and viewed down on us.

The veteran fighters walked closer to us, trying to find their assigned partner. We all spread around, those who had their partners, as well as those who weren't and trying to be distinguished from the crowd. I stood close to my three friends, and eventually they had their partners. Red had a man in trousers with a red cap labeled "M" named Mario, Pit met a taller version of Toon Link, named Link coincidentally, and Toon Link met a tall, seemingly nice lady named Zelda. As I looked around, I saw the King Dedede figure meet a heavily black clothed man who Toon Link had a disgusted sight for, while that rounded masked man met with a pink rounded ball with a happy, blithe face. They both seemed to have known each other by the way they exchanged handshakes. I saw Samus contented, knowing she received a blonde-haired woman in a pink dress as her partner, which must have been the "Peach" character she mentioned. The blue haired swordsman met with a darker blue haired swordsman, who seemed slimmer and swifter with a thinner sword. The little monkey met his bigger monkey, and they both danced on the ground in joy. The blue animal…thing that stopped the wolf character from fighting earlier was next to a pair of hammer-wielding fighters, probably brother and sister. The wolf character met with a fox character, who looked more cool and collected. The robot met with a black 2D figure, and somehow I knew they were going to be a good duo. The blue hedgehog met with a green drago…or maybe it was a dinosaur, and the short spaceman had a tall, red-helmeted man as a partner who stood proud with his dark blue suit. The man with the same colored suit as his headband met with a blue bird, who looked cool and collected just like the fox I saw. And lastly, the creepy man with the fat pink nose…and some kind of large turtle with a spiked shell that looked very scary.

Everyone had a partner already, but I looked around the room for mine. Zelda saw my anxiety and bent down to my level.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" she said lightly.

"I don't know where my partner is…" I replied. The taller Link popped a thought.

"Hey Zelda, where's Ness?"

She stood back straight. "Ah, right…where is…oh." She looked at me, but when I took a second or two, I figured she looked behind me.

"Excuse me," I heard an unknown voice. The voice sounded calm, and young, like mine. I turned around, and met a boy in a red cap covering his black hair, wearing the same fashion shirt like mine except in blue and yellow, the same denim pants like mine, and with red shoes without the yellow bottom. He was in similar height as mine, but he was probably a year older since he was slightly taller than me.

"You're Lucas, right?"

"Y-Yes," I stuttered. "What's your name?"

His smile made me feel safe. "I'm Ness, your veteran partner for tomorrow." His hand reached out. I gave him a small grin, accepting to shake his hand.

With that, I knew we were going to be great friends.


	2. Ness, Ever so Kind

**Lenne**: Well, school comes tomorrow and so on, so don't expect an update in a day or two (I'll try though, I have other stuff to do.) I promise, the story gets better as each chapter comes!

Also, **this chapter has Mother 3 spoilers. Be warned.**

Enjoy!

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><p><span>Chapter 2: Ness, Ever so Kind<span>

Every one of us followed the figure Master Hand towards the door he came from once we all had become acquainted with each other for about one or two minutes. The path of light led us to a long, white hallway, filled with just air and light as well as doors on each side. Once we were all in the hall, Master Hand turned around and spoke to us, specifically the newcomers.

"You will all rest in these rooms, with your veteran assistant included of course. You will have some luxury to enjoy before tomorrow, to know a part of what you will win when you survive. The time currently is six hours after noon. You have until nine o' clock, or later if you wish, to enjoy relaxation until sleep. I recommend resting early, to get as much energy possible. All of you must be in the hall by 11:15, and then you will be summoned at 11:20, where we will discuss all rules of the test and answer any questions. Noon will be our limit, and the test will begin."

I wondered if anyone had actually considered to why they should stay. I was sure we did not ask to be summoned to this world, because I certainly don't recall it. I question if anyone would actually fail on purpose, so that they could go back to their worlds. Right now, I didn't feel like staying. I wanted to go see my friends at Tazmilly again. I wonder how my dad and Boney were doing right now without me. I was about to think more until Master Hand had said something important.

"Now, before any questions, I have one for all of you. Do you newcomers, wish to not take the test, and rather go home?"

I thought about it. I didn't know anyone here. And what about the three friends I made? I probably wouldn't make a difference in their lives.

Master Hand spoke again. "There is no need to be afraid to speak now. I will simply erase everyone's memory of whoever wishes to go home."

There was an assuring thought. I would like to go home now. I started to raise my hand, hoping he would see me in the back of the crowd. Halfway, my arm was grabbed lightly.

My veteran partner, Ness, gave me eyes of reconsideration. He looked…slightly frightened. For some reason, I could tell he would be lonely if I had gone away. I put my arm down. Master Hand looked at us once again, not caring about our eyes of "get on with it already".

"If no one wishes to go home, then I will finish. If you do, however, reconsider to go home, you may say so tomorrow. I will now leave and let you enjoy your time of relaxation. Your veteran partner will lead you to your rooms." His last look at the crowd was made and he slowly faded away into the air. Up ahead, the veterans started to walk on and lead their partners into different doors. Once Pit and Toon Link ahead of me started to walk, I walked beside my partner. Toon Link and Zelda eventually exited to my left and Pit with his assistant later to my right. I was led to a door across a very larger door, which I had assumed to be the one for that large demon turtle. Ness unlocked the door with a key from his pocket, and I entered first.

The room felt fresh and fantastic. The walls were painted red and blue across from each other. In the middle of two beds was a desk and a lamp, and those beds had silk of red and blue color, and they had a Mr. Saturn shape on the blankets! Across from the beds were a large television, a refrigerator next to it, and on the ground next to the TV was a game console with two controllers. To the right of the TV was a door, which I expect to be a bathroom in this time of need.

"Wow…" was all I gasped as Ness closed the door. I walked to the beds and felt the red colored one. It was soft like sheep wool. I sat on it, and the mattress slowly descended. It was like an attempted clone of a cloud bed. I got off and checked the refrigerator. There was a plate of an omelet sitting in there! And when I put my finger over it, it was warm! The machine is magical! I closed the door, and reopened it. Still warm!

Ness chuckled at my childish personality and walked over to me. He peeked at the inside and took note of my favorite food.

"You like omelets?" he asked.

"Yeah. What do you like to eat?" I asked. He closed the door and reopened it.

"Steak," he stated. There was a hot plate of steak inside, with a fork and knife sitting next to it.

I giggled at first, just at how incredible everything was. And I had remembered Master Hand this was a part of the Brawl world. This is like heaven. I was glad I didn't volunteer to leave this place.

"So…what do you want to do?" asked Ness. He looked at me so happily, as if he would answer anything I could question him.

"Well…I'd like to get to know you," I said.

"Sure." He walked over to the blue bed and sat on it. He patted the right space next to him. I walked over, and sat down, enjoying the comfort of the plush mattress.

"So, what do you want to know?" asked Ness.

I thought for a bit, and started with simple questions. "Well…do you have a last name?"

"Not really…I don't think I was even told. My family was just really quiet about it or something."

"Wow."

"What about you?"

"Uh…I don't know. I guess we're kind of the same." Both of us giggled at the stupidity. Then, I asked my next question. "What do you like to do?"

"Um…relax a lot, play baseball or any other sport, and lots of video games when I can. And you?"

"Oh…back in my world, I just played a lot in the grass. And there were these huge green dragos that I played with a lot. They would let me slide on their backs or we could play hide and seek, and things like that."

Ness sounded a bit astonished. "That…sounds fun."

"It is. I would always play with them every day with my…brother." I tried not to sound depressed.

"Cool."

"So…well…I don't have a question right now. How about you ask me?" I honestly didn't want to be the only one asking questions.

Ness put his finger on his chin. "Okay….well…what's your favorite thing in the world?" he asked. Then he looked at the refrigerator. "Besides omelets, I mean."

"Well…I love sunflowers." I clenched my right fist in secret.

"Sunflowers? Why?"

I wanted to answer, but I didn't want to speak it. "They…remind me of…my…"

Ness scooted closer to ensure no mishearing. "….your…?"

"…my mom. She…died protecting me." I moved my head away.

"Oh…I'm sorry. I didn't know…" Ness tried to reach his hand for me.

"N-No, it's okay. It's not your fault or anything." To get off the thought, I also mentioned something else. "I also like…love."

"Love?" Ness questioned. "As in, loving someone?"

"Well…love in general. My…mom told me it's a powerful thing. Love can give you the strength to do anything you want."

"I think she could be right," he agreed. "I mean, I never loved someone before, but I think I could relate to your mom."

"Didn't you have someone to love in your world, Ness?"

"Well, there was this girl named Paula who I travelled with, but I didn't really feel anything for her. I'm pretty sure she didn't for me either."

"I see…" I mumbled.

"What about you?"

"Well…there was this girl named Kumatora, she was older than me. And I think she had some sort of love-hate interest with my other friend, Duster. I couldn't tell though."

"Oh…okay."

We continued talking for a while. Eventually I learned Ness had a dog named King, and he learned I had my Boney. Then, I also learned Ness never really made any good friends with many of the other veterans. Some, like the Princess Peach and Princess Zelda he mentioned, were kind to him, but no one else was really a best friend to him. I wanted to feel pity for him. We kept on chatting, and when I looked at the clock hanging above the TV, it was 7:17. We surely did become acquainted. Then there was one more question that Ness asked me.

"What's your special power?"

"I use PSI. Psychic powers."

"Really?" his voice sounded excited. "You use PSI?"

"Uh…yeah."

"No way! Me too!"

"Really?" I got excited too. "Show me." Ness closed his eyes and put the sides of his hands together. He conjured up a small blue ball, which I felt to be PSI Magnet. I conjured a smaller version of mine as well, and we compared each other's sphere sizes. Then we faded them into nothing and looked each other, satisfied that we were even more similar.

Ness spoke again. "So since you can use psychic abilities, I guess you can use telepathy too."

"Telepathy?" I questioned. I never considered telepathy, nor did I even know how to use it.

"You don't know?" Ness scooted closer. "Telepathy is when we talk through each other minds. But for psychics, we have to touch foreheads."

"R-Really?" I was both intrigued and feeling awkward of the concept of telepathy. Having to touch foreheads was something I didn't expect. I stared at Ness' forehead. It was a clean, skin colored forehead with bits of his hair hanging in front of it. Ness noticed my gaze and said something.

"…Do you want to try it?"

"Uh…yeah. Sure." I put my hands down on the bed and leaned my head forward, readying myself. Ness scooted closer and leaned his head in. As we slowly closed by a centimeter each second, I kept telling myself to not feel weird about it. But for some reason I felt safe being this close to Ness.

Just within a short moment, his head touched mine. I could feel a relaxing energy transmitting through my head, and I could feel the same for Ness. His thought spoke to me.

"_So? What do you think?"_

"_It's…new to me."_

"_Well yeah. Anything else?"_

"_It's…relaxing." _ I enjoyed the peace in the room, hearing nothing else but Ness' thought. He commented how rarely he could do telepathy. And he only did it once or twice with the Paula girl he met. I also saw something else in his mind. Something private within Ness' head. I was a bit surprised at what I had found.

I had become so lost in telepathy that I tried to let my hand adjust from discomfort. But, I lost balance and leaned in too much forward. I tried to fluster for something in air, but it was futile. Ness was pushed back. And…

I landed on top of Ness. We both opened our eyes once we realized we were kissing.

I pulled away and put myself about five inches away from his head. We just stared at each other's eyes, then pink cheeks, and then lips. I knew he was thinking "Did I just…kiss him?" because I was thinking of it too.

"I-I…" I rattled. "I'm sorry! I-It was an ac-accident!" I sat up immediately and scooted to the corner of the bed. Then I just stared at Ness getting up and looking at me.

"N-No…it's fine. I…uh, no big deal." We continued staring at each other until I put my eyes on the bed, trying not to seem pleased or anything that would worry Ness. I just made a friend, I didn't want to make him feel any more awkward!

I only let my eyes wander at spots below Ness' head. From the bed sheet, to the floor, to the hands on my shorts, and back to the bed. What now, I thought? The air was just cold silent. I didn't know what Ness felt. I wish I could use telepathy again, but what if we kiss again? Then everything would be more awkward.

"Do you…" Ness said. "…want to play a video game?"

I was a bit startled how calm Ness was. "Uh...yeah! Yeah, a video game. Sure." I sounded stupid.

Ness got up and sat on the floor, readying the game console. I sat down a bit away from him, grabbing a controller and staring at the TV screen. We both played in silence, except for a few "awes" and "woos" from losing and winning.

Our game time only lasted about forty minutes before it was almost eight o'clock. We both grabbed dinner, my omelet and his steak, and ate next to each other in front of the TV, watching a cartoon. We left our empty plates in the refrigerator. At 8:25, Ness entered the bathroom first, and used it for showering and such as I watched the cartoon on TV. I switched to another channel, which was a view of the Smash Mansion. Pictures kept changing to parts of the whole house. Eventually it became "Smashers' Rooms", and one of them included Ness' room. I could tell it was his by the same Mr. Saturn blanket on his bed. His only one bed. No one else was in his room. I remembered Ness didn't really have a good friend.

Once Ness opened the bathroom door, the picture changed immediately. Ness came out with his hat in hand, and in blue and white striped pajamas.

"Your turn," he said softly. He gave me a small grin as I walked past him. I closed the door and locked it.

The bathroom was simply amazing as the bedroom. Clear marble walls and white tiled floors. Smooth and clean they were. There were two toothbrushes in a cup, red and blue, which blue must have been Ness', and to check, I felt the brush to be wet. I saw a basket near my right foot that had folded light blue pajamas. I removed them from the basket and placed it onto the sink counter, where it was dry. Then I removed my clothes and put them into the same basket next to one that had Ness' clothes. My shoes and socks went on top of my underwear as well. I looked at the red, dry towel on the white towel rack hanging on the wall, with a wet blue one next to it. I stepped in the bathtub, closing the white curtain, and turned on the valves to warm and almost hot water. I endured a short cold rain, then a fast change in temperature. I washed all the filth away with the soap and shampoo available.

All throughout my cleaning, my thoughts were on Ness. I still couldn't believe I kissed him. If only I hadn't been in an uncomfortable position in the first place, he wouldn't be feeling strange as I am right now. I couldn't shake how bizarre it must have been to kiss a friend I just made. I never even kissed anyone on the lips before. Having to kiss Ness' lips, which were soft, reassuring and pleasant…was…

Wait! What was I thinking! I shook my head and focused on cleansing myself. I dried off once I finished, and just kept my towel on as I brushed my teeth with the seemingly unused toothpaste next to the cup. After my whole body was cleaned, I put on my sleepwear and combed back my hairstyle. I exited the bathroom, seeing Ness sitting on his bed and watching the television.

"Ready to sleep?" he asked. I nodded, looking unsure. He turned off the TV and then turned on the lamp, and walked over near the door to flick the light switch. The lamp light became my guide to walk over to my bed. Ness climbed in as I did, becoming relaxed with our comfortable beds. We said nothing as Ness reached for the lamp.

"Good night Lucas." he said kindly.

I replied softly. "Good night, Ness."

Minutes passed as the darkness continued to crawl through our room. As much as I tried, I couldn't sleep. It wasn't because I felt so uncomfortable, but rather…unsafe. I remembered I always slept with my brother, and sometimes with my mom. Of course since I'm older now, I had to stop living like a child. But, something told me to live in the past for just another time, only different…

"Ness," I whispered. No response. I tried a little louder. "Ness…are you...still awake?"

There was no response, so I just turned back over to face the wall with the door. Then I heard something.

"Yeah. I'm…awake."

I turned back over. "You can say no…but…is it okay if I sleep with you?"

There was a small silence. I didn't know if he didn't hear me or just didn't want to answer. But then I was calm.

I heard his body turn over for his mouth to allow louder words. "Yeah. You can sleep with me."

"You don't…mind?" I asked.

"Well, if you can't sleep, then that's bad for tomorrow. I gotta be sure you have to be well rested."

I smiled in the darkness, hoping he could see it. I grabbed my pillow and walked over to the other bed as Ness scooted over. Thankfully, we both fit in perfectly. I slipped under the shared blanket with him that he put over me.

"Thanks, Ness."

"No problem. Try to sleep now, okay?"

"Okay."

This time, I was able to close my eyes with ease. My mind felt clearer too. But soon when I dreamt, I had remembered something I read in Ness' mind earlier. I had forgotten about it. Then as I recollected the thought, it added even more awkwardness…and it made me question how our future friendship would be. I only repeated the thought in my mind as I slowly faded into slumber.

Ness…loved me.

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><p><strong>Lenne: <strong>Now wasn't that sweet?

Reviews are greatly appreciated even if it's just for this one chapter, as they are a very yummy snack.


	3. Pillow Fights Until Then

**Lenne**: Oh look, Chapter 3! And here you guys thought I would give up on this stor...oh you didn't? Boo.

...Well then, please enjoy. /sits in corner with cookies

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><p><span>Chapter 3: Pillow Fights Until Then<span>

"…cas…Lucas…"

Let me sleep for a bit longer…

The voice exclaimed to me. "Hey, you know it's 11:20 right?"

I sat up immediately, but still rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I couldn't believe I slept in…wait. Ness doesn't seem like the person to leave me behind.

"Finally." The voice was not Ness.

I moved my hands away and saw a green clothed boy and a taller boy next to him. Toon Link was the voice that bothered me, while Red stood there and laughed.

"Very funny," I grumbled.

"Of course it is," responded Red.

I blinked twice and looked at my lap, still trying to get my eyes awake. "Where's…Ness?"

"Right here," my left ear heard. I looked to my left, and Ness was already awake and with his hat on. But he was still in his pajamas, hiding his hands behind his back.

"They told me they were good friends with you, so I let them in."

"To almost scare me?" I responded. "I was really worried that I would have missed the test."

Ness put his right hand on his hip. "Hey, I'd make sure you wouldn't. That's my job."

"Nice friend you got here, Lucas," commented Red. He looked at Ness. "What's your name, again?"

"I'm Ness," he replied.

"I'm Red."

"And I'm Toon Link, T-L for short."

"Heh, okay. Nice to meet you both." I watched them try to get acquainted. Then right as silence struck, I began to climb out of bed and onto Ness' side.

"Hey wait a second," Red said. He looked at this blue bed, and then the other almost neat bed. "Lucas, were you sleeping with Ness?"

I almost panicked. "Ah, no, what would make you think that…?" I tried to stay normal.

"Because I can tell Ness is blue, and you are red. You're sleeping in a blue bed, Ness' color. So…"

"Oh…" sang T-L. He leaned over the bed. "What were you two doing last night?"

Suddenly, I remembered our accidental kiss.

"Nothing!" I responded. "Just…playing video games, yeah!" I thought Ness saw through me by the way he stood calm through my anxiety.

Red chuckled. "I don't believe it." He patted the red edge behind him. "I mean, this bed looks like it was completely left alone."

"So he _was _sleeping with Ness!" Toon Link exclaimed.

"Wrong," responded Ness. "Lucas just wanted to sleep in the blue bed, so I slept in the red bed. Then I got up early and made it." Finally, he saved me.

"Huh…okay." T-L said. He looked normal, but there was something in my gut telling me he still doubted us.

Red gave an unsure gaze at us, but he just lifted his shoulders. Then he spoke. "Well anyways, it's about 9:30. How about you two go wash up or whatever and we can hang out?"

I managed to calm down to my regular self. Then I responded, "Yeah. Okay."

Ness looked at me. "You go wash up first."

I nodded my head and walked off to the bathroom. I entered and closed the door behind me. I looked down at the basket of my clothes. They were already folded neatly instead of open and mushed together, leaving the shoes and socked placed neatly to the side. I picked up my shirt and smelled it. It was a scent of fresh spring. Either Ness came in and did this or some magical being invaded our bathroom also as it did to our refrigerator.

Ten to fifteen minutes later, I finished putting on my clothes after showering and brushing my teeth. I was about to twist the doorknob, till I heard a slam and an "oof!" I put my ear on the door.

"Oh you're gonna get it now!" exclaimed T-L. I heard a thwack and a "aw!" from Red. Were they fighting with pillows?

I opened the door and saw what was going on. Red and Toon Link were focused on each other while Ness stood back with a pillow in his hand, ready in case the other two went to him. I walked up to Ness and he noticed me.

"Oh, you're out."

I worried about the unkempt beds and the pillows starting to rip. "Won't we mess up the beds?"

"Nah, don't worry about it. All these rooms disappear after we leave for the test. So just do whatever you want until then." He gave me his pillow and walked to the bathroom. I looked at Red and Toon Link, who had just spotted me.

"Let's get him," suggested T-L.

"On it!" Red threw his pillow at me. I dodged it and the pillow hit the spot near my foot. I looked back and immediately blocked the next thrown pillow with mine.

"Drats," T-L mumbled.

I threw my pillow back at T-L and he fell over as he was shortly regretting his failed shot.

"Nice! Hand me one," said Red. I lightly threw him one and he began slamming Toon Link repeatedly.

"Hey, hey! Cheater!" he laughed. He tried to grab the pillow I threw at him as he was being pounded at. I kept my face happy and joined in on the double teaming. We all laughed and had so much fun fighting with each other that the pillows were already torn and worn out. Pieces of cotton were dumped on the floor and the beds.

"Oh dang. We messed these up pretty bad," commented Red.

"Yeah, but it was worth it!" Toon Link hurled his last shot at Red, making him plunge over and onto the floor. We both laughed at his fall.

Soon, Ness came out of the room, back in his normal clothes. Then he just watched us until we all were looking at him.

"What?" he said. The three of us just giggled.

After the small snickers there was a gentle knock on the door. Ness walked over and opened it. Four people, Mario, Zelda, Pit, and the taller Link stood at the door.

"Good morning, Ness," politely said Zelda.

"Morning," he responded. "Hey Link. Hi Mario."

"Buongiorno!" exclaimed Mario.

"Hey-a Ness." Link looked at us. "Having fun?"

"Yeah!" responded T-L. He waved at Zelda who waved back. She stepped in and stood at the edge of the bed, looking at us and then specifically at the little green clothed one.

"Just to remind you guys, you can play until a bit before eleven. Then you have to come back and get ready."

"Oh, all right…" responded Toon Link. It looked like Zelda was treating T-L like her child. I looked back over at the door and the rest of the guests came in.

"Hey guys," said Pit. We all waved good morning, and then he looked at the pillows in our lap. "You guys had a pillow fight and didn't invite me?"

"Well we thought you weren't up," replied Red.

Zelda lightly chuckled. "Well then, you can have some fun now, Pit." She snapped her fingers, and like the magic of the Brawl world, the pillows returned back to their normal state, the fallen cotton disappeared, and a pillow was now in Pit's hand.

"Cool!" reacted an excited Toon Link. He hit Red again in his off-guard state and he fell once more.

"Hey, hand me one too!" requested Link.

"You can do it yourself you know…" Zelda retorted.

"Oh yeah." He snapped his fingers, and a pillow landed in his hand. He joined in us who were teaming up on Red.

"Care to join, Mario?" asked Zelda.

"No thanks, I'm-a fine."

"Well I can't be left out," stated Ness. Zelda heard him and snapped her fingers to do the work, and a white pillow was given to Ness. He threw it at my face and I fell back on the bed.

"Gotcha!" he exclaimed. Then I heard an "oof!" from him. Red flung his pillow at Ness, but then he was knocked down by Link's pillow.

"Okay this is getting old!" he responded. Then I hunted for Toon Link while Ness joined in on our huddled group. All of our strength was put into swings and our throws in the pillows, but the rest of us had to team up on Link since he was the most strongest of us. Zelda especially laughed when he kneeled down to bear a barrage of blows. She and Mario only watched as we continued our pillow fun.

It was already 10:40 by the time we were all tired. Zelda dragged Toon Link back to their room while Pit and Red left with their veteran partners. I was stuck lying on the red bed without its blanket, gathering a few breathes once the door closed. My tired eyes saw Ness coming by on my left side.

"You okay, Luke?" he asked.

I panted out a last time. "Yeah…wait, Luke?" He just gave me a nickname.

"Oh, sorry. Do you mind?"

"No, not at all. I'm fine with it." I sat up, looking at Ness' general look, but then my eyes averted to his hands. He was carrying a plate of omelets.

"Here. Eat up."

"Ah…thanks." I accepted the plate and sat it on my lap. Breakfast in bed….how pleasant.

Ness turned around to go back to the refrigerator. "After you eat, we gotta be ready to go and wait outside."

"Okay," I said. Then I sliced a piece of omelet with my fork and chomped it.

Around 11:08 we left our room. We both just stood at our door, and I poked my body out to take a peek left and right. On my right for a few doors, Samus was leading against the wall against her door while her veteran sat on a chair, reading a pink book. The fox and the wolf, the blue hedgehog and his brother and sister pair, and some of the others were already out. I stood close to Ness as each door was being opened for almost every half minute. Some of the people, like the veterans, left their doors to talk with the others, and then headed back. The falcon bird had apparently said something to make his wolf friend have a short anger issue, as he ran away back to his door after a couple of minutes.

I saw Red, Toon Link, Pit, and their partners on our left. They waved another "hello" and stared and talked from their spots, since they were close to each other. I, on the other hand, was scared.

In front of us was the room door larger than anyone else. Every door except the one in front of us had at least two figures in front of them by 11:15. When the clock had struck 11:18, the automatic door flew open, and two frightening figures exited the room. The behemoth of a turtle and his newcomer, the bulky guy with the large pink nose and a yellow hat with a "W", walked out of that door as if nothing happened as the door behind them slid down. I was petrified; the weighty man gave me a curious stare. I gulped in fear, and then he just looked away. I was surprised by how Ness was still keeping his calm face, especially since he was right in front of the turtle beast.

"How was your morning, Bowser?" he only said. The monster in front of him sighed.

"Whatever," said the deep voice.

I side stepped closer to Ness as unnoticeable as I could. For some reason, I felt so secure when I'm as close as I could to him. Though, the only person I believed to have seen my cowardly action was Ness himself.

"You okay?" he whispered.

"Y-Yeah," I whispered back without trying to look conspicuous. I felt like I was being watched. Watched by that grouchy face in front of me.

11:20. A bell tolled throughout the hallway. Everyone stood quiet, until I heard a noise on our left.

I saw a golden light encircling two of the blue haired swordsman, and then golden light started appearing to each person. Red and the others were already fully surrounded in the radiance, and soon were Ness and myself. I saw nothing else but the light, Ness' smiling face, and one quick evil smirk at the eerie man's face.

Soon, the light nearly blinded me and I had shut my eyes, hearing some screams and gasps, and the cries of the golden illuminations. Then, I heard nothing else.

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><p><strong>Lenne<strong>: Things are about to get interesting. And because they are, except some faster updates, because this week is nearly a break for me~

...Though that doesn't necessarily mean teachers can still try kill me.


	4. The Introduction and Rules

**Lenne**: Ohay guys. Yeah, I promised frequent updates. But I hate this year of school already x_x. I've already got so much stress from three of my classes...

So yeah, here's Chapter 4.

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><p><span>Chapter 4: The Introduction and Rules<span>

I kept my eyes closed. Closed through the brightness trying to reach to my eyes. I even kept them closed after Ness called my name.

"Lucas."

"Hm?"

I assumed everything was already fine, so I opened my eyes slightly, and then all the way when I saw every other fighter in front of us and in front of a large, white platform. We were all in a single rectangular room of a bluish-white, nothing else but the platform with small stairs on the side and us.

"Oh…where are we?" I asked.

"The introductory room. We'll discuss the rules, questions, and introduce ourselves."

Introduce ourselves? In front of everyone?

Soon, the giant white hand gradually appeared from being transparent. He looked at all of us as chatter continued, then the talk slowed down once all eyes were on him.

"Good to see all of you here. I assume all of you had well rest?"

Some people mumbled.

"Very well. Regardless, you will be the introduced to the rules of the initiation. However, let us start with introductions. For those of you that have not already known, I am Master Hand. I control everything of the Brawl world. My lower rank is my brother, and he also has control over the Brawl world, but with less privileges. He should arrive soon."

Some chatter in the crowd erupted again, but disappeared quickly when Master Hand spoke again.

"Now, let us start with you all. All you must do is come up here when I call for you, and introduce yourselves. Name is only required, anything else is optional for you to say. Then you will walk off." Master Hand disappeared, and then quickly reappeared to our left near the stairs. He looked at us with his fingers and carried a clipboard between his pinkie and ring finger. "First, Mario, come with your partner."

Mario walked through the crowd and Red followed him. They both went up the stairs and stood in the middle of the dais, looking at us. Red stood proud while carrying a red and white ball.

"Good-a morning everyone, I am-a Mario. This is-a Pokémon Trainer, or you may call him-a Red, his-a nickname." Red bowed after some of the crowd clapped. Mario continued. "He-a fights standing back, using Pokémon in his-a brawls, such-a as-a Pikachu."

Red looked at Mario with excitement. "Pikachu's here? Really?"

"Ah, yes, I forgot to mention," Master Hand. Everyone looked at him. "There are other fighters that are not here, however, they are watching this right now. You will see them soon, that is, if you pass the initiation."

Some more talk continued in the crowd, while Red exclaimed "cool!" and walked off with Mario.

"Next, Peach. Come up with your partner."

The lady in the pink dress led the other slim body woman up the stairs and onto the middle of the platform.

"Hello everyone," said her elegant voice. "I am Princess Peach, but you may call me Peach. This is Samus, or rather, Zero Suit Samus, as this tight suit she is wearing makes her very agile and speedy."

Samus posed on her spot, winning a few woos from some of the men in the crowd.

"Next," Master Hand said. "Link and Pit."

The taller Link walked on with the angel following behind. "Hello everyone, I'm Link. This is Pit, he's an angel. That's all I know." Some of us giggled, and then Pit pulled out his weapon and spun them around, winning claps from us.

"Next, Zelda and Toon Link."

Zelda teleported forward as Toon Link, in a child-like manner, rushed to jump onto the stage, making the crowd laugh. He still waved at us happily.

"I am Princess Zelda, but you may call me Zelda. This is Toon Link, who is of course, the cartoon-like version of Link over there. Like the regular Link, he fights strong with his weapons, but you can see he is a bit childish."

"Hey, I'm not childish!" he exclaimed. Then the crowd chuckled as they walked off.

Master Hand had even chuckled at the little scene. Then he resumed with the rest of the name calls.

Next was the two monkeys, the giant one being Donkey Kong, and the little one being DIddy Kong. Diddy seemed to be excited that he was with Donkey, and so did the other feel the same way with how they were pounding the platform and then their chests with pride. After them were Fox and Wolf, fitting their characters conspicuously. Fox was apparently, a rival to Wolf, and also to Falco who then came up after them with a man named Snake, who introduced himself as a sneaky and sly man with an arsenal of explosives. After them was King Dedede, the large penguin-man-thing, and Ganondorf who just introduced the basics of his partner. Next was Kirby and Meta Knight, but all Kirby said was "poy, poyo, pai!", yet thankfully Meta Knight spoke for him. Up after them was the two swordsmen, Marth and Ike, which looked like a perfect pair to take down any opponent teamed up with another. Their swords radiated in the single light as they raised them to the ceiling and then at us. The flow of process continued on, until I felt scared once.

The beastly turtle, or Bowser as I recalled Ness said, came up with his partner.

"This…" said the deep voiced beast. He cleared his throat. "This is Wario. He's a digsuting, fat, lazy good-for-nothing man." Wario shrugged his shoulders as if they were compliments and laughed at the crowd. Then he had a very short glance at me that no one noticed, making me cringe a little.

"Finally," Master Hand said, "Come up, Ness and Lucas."

Ness looked at me and mouthed "let's go," and led me up the stairs. I was feeling timid to come up with Ness, and even more frightened when I saw everyone looking at us, and specifically me. I hid my hands behind my back.

"I'm Ness, nice to meet you all. This is Lucas, a good fighter. We both use psychic powers, so you can say we're a good duo to fight against." Various claps erupted, and I saw smiles from Toon Link, Red, Pit, and their partners. I guess I already made good friends, other than Ness.

"WHOAA!" I heard. The shout was loud behind the crowd, and came in a rushing hand that was flying at me. I yelped and fell back in surprise while Ness stepped to the side, leaving the hand to crash into the wall behind us.

"Ugh," Master Hand clenched his fist after putting the clipboard down. "And that is my stupid brother, Crazy Hand."

The crowd immediately laughed louder than the previous chuckles that were going throughout. I had thought they were laughing at Crazy Hand's crash, but I was wrong when I saw most eyes looking at me. Even my good friends had giggled.

I even heard a chuckle as Ness reached for me. "You okay?"

"…Yeah." I was pulled up and then walked off first in front of Ness, with my mind moping about my embarrassment. Once we reentered the crowd, Master Hand floated up on the platform, with Crazy Hand trying to rush up to his side.

"I hope you are all now aware of each other. Now then, before we start, I will ask again. Do any of you want to leave the Brawl world?"

No one answered. We all had determined eyes.

"I see. Then we shall now start discussing the rules…" before he continued, Crazy Hand he whispered something to his brother. "…Oh. Then we should hurry. We have about ten minutes left before I must send you to the test. I shall aid speeding everything with this." Master Hand snapped his fingers and a silver board with white paper and black text appeared in the middle of the platform. It was large for all of us to read it clearly.

"Now then, here are the rules. If you have questions, please feel free to raise your hand as we will have no problem answering it." I read the board carefully.

**1.** No high destruction of the nature within the testing world, such as a forest fire. A smaller form of nature destruction, such as breaking off a few trees to create shelter, is allowed.

**2.** Contact between brawlers is allowed, however there is to be no assistance to the others. Only your veteran partner may assist you.

**3.** Engagements, whether violent, sexual, or in any other way that upsets towards other brawlers is not allowed. However, competitions to obtain supplies are allowed.

**4.** You must do your own work or share the work. Your veteran partner cannot do any solitary work for you.

**5.** No sabotaging or stealing of other brawlers' supplies.

By about four minutes everyone memorized the rules. Master Hand cleared his throat to get attention.

"Whether you have finished reading or not, I will continue. If you happen to fail to recall a rule there will be a handbook given to you in your given supplies. Regardless, you are all evaluated in skill, survivability, and loyalty. You are graded on a scale of points, and breaking the following rules will drastically lower your points, dropping your chances of passing. Any questions?"

No one raised their hand.

"Now then, as stated, you all must survive fourteen days and nights. Not fourteen days and thirteen nights, a full two weeks. However, your partner will leave after the twelfth night, meaning they leave before the thirteenth day begins."

Murmurs erupted immediately. I had to take that into mind. I needed to remember that I had to survive two days and two nights without Ness.

"Everyone who has survived by then will be called to a waiting room, but you will all be separate from each other. Your veteran partner who left you will then arrive and state whether you have passed or failed the test. Pass, and be welcomed to the brawl world. Fail, and say final goodbyes before you return to your home world. Any questions now?"

Link raised his hand. "What about the final say from us veterans?"

"Ah yes. For you newcomers, on the day when they leave, your veterans will speak to me in private regarding your score. They are the evaluators, and if they desire to, they can speak to me so that I can reconsider the final score."

The newcomers spoke to their partner. I looked at Ness in worry, but he smiled and grabbed my hand. "Don't worry, I promise that you'll pass."

"Really?"

"You bet," he said.

Master Hand spoke once again. "We have three minutes left. Any more questions? Please, do not be scared to ask."

No one spoke.

"Just so you know guys!" said the crazier hand. "Your partner can tell whether you are passing or not, but that is a cost of deduction in points. It's best that you don't ask, and just follow the rules and be a good person."

Lucario raised his hand. "How many points do we start with? And how many do we need to pass?"

Master Hand answered. "I am not allowed to state how many points you need to pass or how many points will be deducted for breaking the rules or asking your partner. However, I will state that you start with two hundred."

Two hundred, I thought. If the average person could pass, it should be around one hundred. I needed to keep above hundred. At best, maybe one-fifty.

"One minute left," said Crazy Hand. He yelled to everyone with enthusiasm. "Are you all ready to start?"

All of us cheered.

Master Hand laughed. "Glad to see you are all determined."

A loud bell tolled once through the room.

Master Hand and Crazy Hand both floated up and clenched their selves. "Go forth, Brawlers!"

Their fists slammed the platform, causing the start of the same illuminations to appear above us. I held Ness' hand as we were all disappearing into the light.

Now, the test begins.

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><p><strong>Lenne<strong>: Ready for the real stuff? Yeah, uh, depends on how much school wants to torture me more. I promise to have the next chapters ASAP, I really want to finish this story as much as you guys do. So for now, just review!


	5. Initiation: Day 1

**Lenne**: Here's another chapter to keep you guys going on. Also, read the chapter titles correctly. Yes. Day one. So there's going to be a Night one, and so on. But there will be time skips. And most of these entries will be short, or long, because there has to be some exciting stuff going on~ (especially with that one event as said in summary. *evil grin*)

So, enjoy!

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><p><span>Chapter 5: Initiation: Day 1<span>

I enjoyed the period of sleep I had for the moment. I could feel the warm air hug me, like I had a cozy blanket. I had sweet dreams, remembering all I could about the previous world-new friends, the food, the pillow fights, the magic of everything. But a certain figure kept lingering in my mind.

"Lucas…"

Ness.

"Lucas, wake up!"

I awoke slowly to seeing a orange soil ground as the center of some trees. I pushed myself on the soft terrain and yawned the fatigue out of my body. I had then looked for the cause of my waking.

"Hey there," he said. He sat with legs crossed, looking at me happily as he saw me waking up. I want to lightly hit him for interrupting me from a good rest, but then I remembered I had a test to do, so I couldn't just sleep all day.

"So where are we?" I asked, looking around.

"The testing world, duh."

"I mean, any specific area?"

"Oh, we're just in a small area of the forest. This is a good place to set shelter, kinda."

I looked around a bit. Of course there were trees to provide lodging, but I can't even build a wooden house. How is this a good place to make shelter?

"Oh yeah, here," Ness said. He sat to the side and revealed a hiding red backpack. I crawled up closer and checked through the contents. Inside, was the rule guidebook, as Master Hand had mentioned, as well has only three sandwiches, rope, a sleeping bag, a net of some sort, only one set of extra clothes, and a sleeping bag. I finished checking the contents, and looked over at Ness. He looked at me questioningly as I examined his shoulder area, finding two blue straps on both. He had his own backpack too.

"What's in your backpack?" I asked.

"Oh, this is all for me only. I can't help you with any of this. It's two weeks' worth of food, spare clothes, and freshwater bottles."

"You can carry all that in there?" I took in mind the sizes of each bag. They were not small, but not so relatively big either. Having two weeks' worth of food and bottles at the same time in only one pocket? Is that possible? And when Ness was just sitting there happily waiting for me, he wasn't bothered by the weight of his backpack.

"It's like…well, think of the magic back in our room."

"Oh…" Well, there was enough talk as it was. I had to get moving, and on to find a more suitable place for shelter. My only problem was how I could make one. But, if I recalled correctly, rule three to the initiation stated competitions to obtain supplies were allowed. Did that mean…

I looked down at Ness who was rechecking his bag. "Ness, aren't there supplies scattered throughout the testing world?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. You gotta hunt for them. And you better be fast to get them, there's only a limited supply in the world and don't reappear after a certain day."

That meant I had to be quick in my hunt. I made sure my backpack was on tight, and looked around. Finally, Ness stood up.

"If you want, I can lead you to the river."

That would be a great...no. No way. Maybe it was just a test, to see if I needed help. Maybe if I accepted that offer, I would have points deducted.

"No thanks," I replied casually. "I can find it on my own."

"Okay." He just stood there, waiting for me. I guess I was the lead of this two-person party. Instead of just standing around, I walked on ahead in some random direction towards two trees. We began to step on slightly crunchy grass as we exited the small open area. I looked around, seeing nothing but trees and more green. I looked up above; there were more branches sticking out almost evenly as if a jungle man would be jumping on them.

"Ness, are there any dangerous animals here?"

"Like what?"

"You know, bears and…like those."

"Not on the first few days." Now, I was just scared. And I wanted to lightly hit him again for being so calm from answering me with a happy face. It was just mean.

We kept on walking on through the trees, with Ness stopping when I wanted to look around, and walking anymore further without any clue of our location. It felt like we were walking for hours, but I knew we weren't even close to one hour. I've already had my first taste of survival and I didn't like it.

Ness looked at me happily again. "I still can tell you where the river is."

I closed my eyes, and still walked on, rejecting his offer. "No, I can find it."

Ness ran up back to my side. "You don't want my help?"

"No, I have to do it on my own. Plus, you're probably just testing me…" I didn't want to doubt him, but I didn't want him to think I was just being rude.

"I'm not testing you. There's really no penalty or anything. I'm just being a good friend."

I stopped, and then he stopped. "You really are?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't trick you so that you would fail to someone like you." Words like that both hurt and soothed my heart.

"…Well, okay then. I…" and then I heard something. A continuing something. It tickled the air as if it was the sound of flowing water. It was like a stream. No, it was more than a stream.

I opened my ears now widely to the sound of water. I trusted my instincts, and began to walk some steps towards the noise. I was hearing it even louder. I ran through the trees, seeing a now clear and conspicuous area of gray rocks. Gray rocks. The river.

I emerged from the forest, from stepping on the crunchy grass, to a bit of more soil and onto pebbles that gathered the river. I was so relieved.

Ness caught up to my left side. "Hey, good job," he said. "You actually found it on your own."

I smiled, with a little blush. "Ah, thanks…" As I turned my head to look at the river again, I saw an object sitting beside a large gray rock. I ran towards it and was happy once again. It was a tent kit. It was large enough for Ness and me.

"My first item," I said to myself. I looked at the clear waterway and beyond it from both sides, finding a small waterfall from one, and just more river from the other. When I had looked over there, I noticed moving objects around in the water. They were fish. And if I recalled, I had a net, and it must have been a fishing net. It was just perfect, like fate made this for me. Ness came up to me, wondering about my plans.

"So, what's up?"

I stood up, carrying the tent kit in my arms, showing Ness what I had found. Then I replied with confidence.

"I think this test is going to be easy."


	6. Initiation: Night 1

**Lenne**: Moo. This chapter has some fluff in here.

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><p><span>Chapter 6: Initation: Night 1<span>

It was already night time by the time Ness and I went out again to explore some of the area beyond our camp site. Thankfully we didn't go so far, and if we did, either of us would have remembered the way back.

While Ness went out a bit more just to secure our camp area, I took the time to sit on the rocks near the edge of the river. Despite how it sounded, the ground of pebbles was almost flat to be comfy for me. I stared at the river, trying to get a glimpse of my reflection by the moonlight. I could only get it at a certain angle, trying to move my body around and playing with the laws of light. I couldn't help but giggle when I saw my stupid self. I even poked the water surface just to cause a fun little ripple. And by just hearing the swishing water, I noticed the water current slowed down. I guess most things were just calmer and night.

I looked back up to the sky, trying to find a wishing star. I wondered how my friends were doing right now. I didn't think Toon Link could handle surviving, nor did I think Red could either. Pit seemed like a fine warrior to be able to surviving, especially when it comes to…the future beasts like Ness mentioned. I wonder how I'll even do.

Then let's see, there was Samus, who seemed perfect for something like this. I never knew her abilities, but I just feel her agility is all she needed, plus I think she may have already known about this test, meaning she must have already been prepared.

There's also Wolf, who also seemed fit for surviving until the end, although something told me that he would just rip everything in his way apart.

Meta Knight would probably be flying around, so that'd be a nice sight. And, I'd be surprised if I saw Sonic rushing through the whole testing world. It'd be kind of funny to see a blue hedgehog run on the river that was just passing by. And R.O.B., how would a robot survive in nature? Maybe Master Hand gave him some sort of extra battery pack or something.

I kept thinking about all the newcomers, up until the nasty thought of that man. What was with him? Why can't he get off my mind? Maybe it was just…how scary he looked. I felt him to be scarier than Bowser, and he's a behemoth! I wanted to get rid of the thoughts already, so I splashed some water in my face, now just realizing it was cold. Thankfully, the night time temperature was only slightly warm, so I didn't feel any threatening chills.

"You okay?" I heard. I turned around, and Ness was standing there, a bit questioned at me, as he probably saw me suddenly splash my face.

"Oh, yeah, I'm okay." I tried to wipe my face with my dry arm.

"There's no one around here, so I've seen. I guess you can say we're alone."

"Okay then." I looked back over at our set tent. It was a pyramid-shaped, blackish gray tent set on the comfy grass, with a size enough for two people. Once Ness and I had set it earlier, we both felt the tent was okay enough to insulate cold air, and even if it didn't, we still had comfy sleeping bags. The only thing that bothered me was that we had to sleep next to each other to fit in. I then heard a yawn from Ness.

"Ready to head to sleep?" Ness said.

"In a bit," I said softly.

"Okay then," he said. He walked towards the tent while I turned around once again to stare at the sky, hoping to find even the smallest shimmering star, or maybe Meta Knight and Kirby passing by. Still, there was nothing within the span of one minute, and then Ness called to me.

"Coming?"

"Yeah!" I responded. I got off the rocks and brushed off any kind of dust that was attached to my shorts, and then I ran over to the tent as Ness took off his shoes. Ness crawled in first while I took my shoes off, and set them next to Ness'. When I peeped in, I saw him crawling in his blue sleeping bag, arms not yet in, probably waiting for me. Once he was settled, I crawled in as well and put myself in my dark red sleeping bag, trying to absorb the slight chill it had at first, until my body became comfortable with it and made it warm. Ness then turned over to me as I looked at him, giving him a smile. What surprised me was that he patted my head.

"W-What was that for?" I said with a blush.

"It's my way of saying thanks for not leaving me," he replied.

There was some sort of meaning in there that I couldn't comprehend. "What do you mean?"

He sighed, and then laid his head back. "Back in the Brawl world, I've never really had a good friend. Or well, a best friend. I mean, Popo, Nana, Pikachu, and Kirby were the only ones around my height and, I guess age. They were the only ones that I knew much, and well, Link, Zelda, and Peach were nice to us, probably because we were the kids of the team. So they were just friends I enjoyed to be with."

"Oh…" I let out softly. I watched him stare at the ceiling of the tent, until he turned over to look at me again.

"But…Lucas, you feel like…you're special to me. I guess it's because you're a psychic too. It's like I can already tell we'll be more than just friends."

"More than…friends?" I said softly. Did he mean…a romantic relationship?

"Yeah. I know we're going to be the best of friends. I just know it." he smiled at me, and that gave me a fuzzy feeling.

I wanted to punch myself a bit from having the wrong thought at first, but all I did was smile back at Ness' kind words. He really is a kind person. Maybe he was right; we will be the best of friends.

Or is it that one day…we'll be more than just best friends?

My thoughts stopped when I yawned, and Ness yawned right after. I laughed at the coincidence. "I guess we should sleep now, huh?"

"Yeah. Even though Master Hand didn't state it, you have to be out doing something instead of just lodging here. So we gotta be well rested."

"Right then…" my eyes began to close on their own will. "Good night…Ness."

I had my eyes close, but his chuckle assured me he was smiling at me. "Good night, Lucas."

Then we had both drifted off to dream land, waiting for the next day.


	7. Initation: Day 2, Part 1

**Lenne**: Yo, new chapter!

Don't worry, I haven't given up on this story. I'm just trying to work bit by bit on this story and the other story. Plus, I also have dumb school still and some of my motivation just comes and goes.

So yeah, I won't delay you any longer. Just enjoy~

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><p><span>Chapter 7: Initiation: Day 2, Part 1<span>

I kept turning my body over in my bag and had begun to wonder how long my slumber was. With the many dreams I've had so far, and how my body was feeling now, I believed I stayed in bed probably long. I rubbed the stickiness out of my eyes and slowly opened them, seeing the sunlight's failure at trying to pierce through the tent. I turned over, and saw Ness was not in his unkempt sleeping bag. I got up quickly, having a first thought that Ness must have been kidnapped, but then an immediate thought said, "_No, no! He must have gotten up earlier_."

I crawled out of the tent and looked at the river edges. There was nothing but the river in front of me. The air felt easy and warm under the shining sun. I looked over to the left where there was a stable path of high stepping stones, and Ness was crouching on a middle stone in the river. What was he doing?

I went up to the river first to wash my face awake. Then, I dried it with my shirt and walked along the river edge towards Ness. When I got close enough for him to hear the pebble crunching, he turned around.

"Oh, morning Lucas!" he waved at me. I got closer and responded back.

"Morning." I hopped on three stones and became only one stone closer to him. "What are you doing?"

"Catching fish. See?" I looked at his hands, and they were holding the outer edges of a fishing net. It was the same fishing net from my backpack. He must have taken it while I was still asleep.

"But I still have the sandwiches…"I mentioned.

"Yeah, but those sandwiches will eventually go bad. It's better to have some extra food just in case. Plus you would get tired of eating them sooner or later." As Ness watched little fish try to swim, he waited for a couple more to enter the net. Once he was satisfied with himself, he lifted the net up quickly, catching four flopping fishes.

"Meh. Not much, but still something."

"Are we going to cook them?" I asked stupidly.

"Of course." He reached for the net closer to the fish and carried it like a small bag with struggling items. He hopped on stones past me and landed back on the shore. I followed him back to his laid bag by the tent, and he pulled out a box of matches. He never told me he had that.

"We're gonna need some wood…" Ness said. He then looked at me. "Do you think you can go wood hunting? I've got my hands tied here."

"Yeah. I'll be back quick!" I ran off into the forest area, eagerly hunting at the ground for decent sized pieces of wood. I had then realized I ran for a while, so I stopped dashing and walked, slowly taking my time so I wouldn't waste energy. I kept walking on, wandering around, looking near the tree barks to see if I could find broken pieces of wood. I had then found a first piece, and it was a fallen tree branch. I picked it up and held it in my left arm, and kept walking on. It felt like minutes passed as the sun kept attempting to shine its rays at me, only to meet the high trees' bush of leaves. I eventually picked up more pieces of wood, and they were simple pieces like a ruler. I needed to find a larger quantity of wood, and cutting a tree down would make things so much easier, yet I had no axe or any ability that would help. PK Fire would definitely cause a forest fire, and PK Freeze would be no help, nor would PK Thunder. And PSI Magnet definitely wouldn't do anything.

I made my finger spark my psychic power and pointed at a tree as if I was imagining a laser cut it. But my finger only sparkled, leaving me to sigh. I looked at my finger and then the tall tree.

Wait a second…

* * *

><p>"…Gosh, where's Lucas?" I mumbled.<p>

I looked at the netted fish once again to make sure that they didn't exit their housing. Thankfully up the river were plenty of tall rocks, enough to stand above the water, and neatly shaped to build a cage where the fish couldn't swim away if they wanted to. I set another heavy rock on the rope of the net and walked back to the tent, cleaning my hands back and forth, ridding the dirt on them.

"He should be back by now…it isn't that hard to find wood."

_Or maybe it is,_ I thought. I really hope he didn't get lost. Suddenly, I heard my name whispered. No ,it wasn't a whispered, it was just a low volume yell.

"Ness!" I heard again. It came from the forest, and when I knew it could only be him, I ran into the forest for a bit, but then stopped once I saw Lucas carrying two pieces of logs that were carrying branches.

"Look how much I got!" he flaunted. I ran up to him and he smiled at me.

"Wow," I commented. "That's a huge piece. Where'd you get it?"

"I cut it with my PSI. Neat, huh?" He brought the quantities forward to me.

"More than neat. You're just great!" I complimented. I could see a faint blush on his face. In my impulse, my hands reached for the unoccupied space of the wood where Lucas wasn't holding. He then pulled back a bit.

"I can carry it," he said. I attempted to grab it again.

"But I want to carry it," I said. Maybe I'm being a bit obvious. Lucas freely let me take the pieces of wood, and I turned around walked back to our campsite, and set it down almost next to our tent.

"Where's the fish?" asked Lucas. I pointed over to the spot where I kept the fish trapped in a ring of rocks. As I looked over, they were still trapped in the net, trying to struggle by swimming.

"That's cool!" exclaimed Lucas. "It's a good thing we picked this spot, huh?"

"Yeah." I shook my arms to wear out the uncomforting feeling from carrying the portions of wood. I put on my backpack and I picked up Lucas' and showed it to him. "Well, let's go exploring now."

Lucas accepted my offer and put it on. "Let's go across the river then," he suggested. He ran over to the stepping stones and carefully hopped on each yet in a hasty pace. I followed his speed and caught up to him on the other side of the river. We stared at the tent, hoping no one would touch our campsite, and then we looked at this other forest. I walked on first, and Lucas followed close behind me, hoping that he wouldn't lose me somehow. We saw nothing else but more trees, but after minutes of walking, we were feeling a change in the temperature, and we started to sweat. Within our sight beyond the trees was hidden scenery of tan ground. If I recalled correctly of the testing world, it was the desert area.

"Should we go on?" asked Lucas. He attempted to fan himself with his hands.

"We can if you want to. We could find some useful stuff in places like that." It was true. Master Hand had told the veterans that it was better to go to difficult places, as there would be more supplies, and better ones at that. I really wondered what we could find in a hell of a place though.

"Then let's go." We both walked on, finding ourselves steps closer to reaching hardened sandy ground. Then we made it to grains of a billion pieces, mushed like disconnected mud and from feeling it with my hands, hot like a piece of steak.

From here, the sun was brighter than usual. Lucas had then decided to use his backpack as a cover for his head and eyes, but he constantly switched back and forth from his head to the right side of his front body. We lasted minutes into the sand before we started to sweat. I sweated less, thanks to my hat, but I saw Lucas wiping his head every minute. We could see nothing but dry sand, large sized cacti, and tumbleweeds. We even passed by a watermelon-shaped cactus the size of a regular house. There was nothing else pretty but the small flowers on them. There was no one in sight either. I could only see the forest behind us ever so conspicuous, and I saw mountains in the background. By prediction, it would be a mile or so to reach the mountainous area. We kept walking on, hoping to actually reach the mountain or come to a stop when we found something, but the sun's heat constantly blazed on our bodies. The radiance kept baking our skins as if they were cookie dough. Lucas began to drift off his steady walking pace.

"It's too hot…" complained Lucas. He fell down, landing on his front legs, but then immediately switched his position to sitting on his butt once he felt the heat of the ground. "…I've dealt with a snowy mountain, but I didn't think I could handle a desert so hot."

I walked up to him and slipped off my backpack. I dug inside and grabbed a water bottle. "Here," I said.

"Huh…?" He covered his face with his hand to see what I was holding. Once he saw it, he reached for it and opened the bottle immediately. The water wasn't ice cold, but it was cool enough to refresh his energy. He drank most of it, leaving about one-half left.

"Thanks, Ness…" he said. He got up again and wiped off his sweat. Once he believed his head was clear of perspiration, I took off my hat and put it on his head.

"Wh…?" he mouthed. "What…you're giving me your hat?" He touched parts of the hat to make sure it was real.

I sighed, wishing a part of me didn't want to say this. "I never give my hat to anyone, but I'll make an exception." I gave a quick smile, then I looked on ahead at the mountains. It was still far away, but checking back, the forest was still not so far. Perhaps it was best that we returned.

"Let's just go back, it'll be long for us to be able to reach the mountains over there," I said.

"Okay…"

We traced back our paths, seeing slight indents in the ground from our previous footsteps. We had high hopes of finding something useful, but there just wasn't luck for us, especially in the never ending heat wave. But, we only had bad luck because we didn't see the other sides of the large cacti we were sightseeing. We saw the same watermelon-shaped cactus that we passed by many moments ago, but we saw something behind it at a corner we couldn't see from an angle before. It sat there, trying to hide behind its cactus house and blend with the other flowery cacti.

"Lucas, look," I said, and pointed to the spot. I ran up to it and he followed me. We both stared at the item we found. It was a larger backpack, black color, with more zippers for more items to organize in. When Lucas picked it up, he noticed its weight was heavy, and I could tell from the small sound he made. He opened the top zipper and found very useful items. Firstly was a binocular, good for determining distances. Secondly were two walkie-talkies, perfect for both of us so we could communicate from a certain far distance. The third and fourth items were kept in the second slot, which held two tubes of sunscreen, perfect for the current conditions right now, and a box with a red cross. It was a mini first aid kit, perfect for any injuries we may have. And lastly was a rubber banded, rolled up laminated paper, which once I unrolled it, became the testing world's map.

"This is great!" Lucas exclaimed. "Now we won't get lost!"

"And we can keep in touch," I said, referring to the walkie-talkies, "and a bunch of other good stuff."

"I'm glad we came into the desert," Lucas said. I bet he didn't expect to say that. I rolled back the map and Lucas helped put the contents back in the backpack. I took the sunscreen out and applied some to my arms, legs and neck, at least having some safety for our walk back to our camp. I gave the tube to Lucas once I was through and waited for him to finish applying. He put the tube back and then removed his backpack, putting his clothes and three sandwiches into the main pocket. He tossed his red backpack away and put on the black backpack, contented with a new feeling of joy. We both walked on towards the view of the trees, hoping that we would return back to camp soon to obtain back our comfortable setting.

Something stopped our walk for a moment though. We heard a roar rumble the air, and with everything clear blue on our right side, we could see an obvious object in the sky. We saw a orange beast using its wings slowly flapping up and down. Its long tail had a flame emitted at the end, which made me almost believe what we were seeing was an illusion. But then we saw two faces familiar to the both of us. A boy with a red hat waved to us as he flew smoothly towards us, along with Mario who bobbed his head to the side.

"Hey!" we heard from the kid's voice.

"It's Red!" said Lucas. He waved back excitedly, and I weakly waved back as well. The beast had landed in front of us, shaking the ground for a moment and causing a disturbance in the heated air. Neither of the two bothered to get off the creature they were on.

"How you guys doin'?" questioned Red.

"We're doing fine!" responded Lucas. His happy face at Red made me feel a bit ill. "How about you?"

"We're doin' great! Well, we gotta go! Good luck with the rest of the test, see you again sometime!" Red was in a hurry to leave as Mario waved good-bye to me. The brute dragon-like being flapped its wings once again, blowing sand into the air, forcing us to cover our eyes and turn around. Red and Mario already were once again in the skies, heading in the direction of the mountains.

"I didn't even get a chance to ask what he was riding on…" mumbled Lucas.

I didn't want to ask, but my feelings forced me to. "Just how do you know Red…?"

"Oh, I don't really know him, but he's one of the first friends I made."

"Oh, I see…" I tried to keep my face constant.

"Something wrong?" he asked with an innocent face.

"Oh, nothing." I brushed off any piece of grain on my clothes, and started to walk on. "Come on, let's head back. Then we'll look at the map and plan."

"Okay!" Lucas rushed back to my side, and we resumed heading back to the trees. As we were meters closer, we began to dash to be able to feel the gradual change in temperature, cherishing the cooler air we were feeling. Once we had finally reached the little leftover of the hardened sandy ground, we both stopped to catch our breaths. Lucas tumbled over and landed on his knees and hands, and took an immediate drink from his left over water and drank it all, putting the empty bottle in his backpack.

"Hoo!" exclaimed Lucas. "I don't wanna go back again."

"But we could find more useful stuff," I said, panting out the last of my fatigue.

"I think we have enough…and we should be able to go to the other areas."

"Yeah, true." I gave my hand to him and pulled him up. "Let's go back now."

"Mm," he hummed. We continued walking on, but Lucas stopped me after three steps.

"Oh, Ness," he said. He came up to me and looked at my face. He smiled with red cheeks, either caused by the heat or from what he was going to say.

"Thanks for letting me use your hat." He took it off, looking at the insides to spot the sweaty stains, but I took it gently to note him it was fine, and put it back on. The wetness was cool on my head, so it had a sort of comfort. Then I wiped the sweat off my head, and looked at Lucas. Our faces were red from the heat, with shirts weakly glued to our skin. We were perspiring pigs.

"I think we need to bathe in the river," I said.

"Can we?"

"There's no point in not to."

"Ah, okay." We resumed walking back into the forest, carefully tracing our path back to the river by only instinct. Our sore legs were aching badly from a long walk, and so we ran to finish off our tiring exploration. Then, we had landed back at our campsite, eager to get some good rest.

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><p>Lucas' red backpack was left open to be carried by the desert wind. Its empty space made it easy to float in the air, and it kept on flying around in the desert, until it was caught. A man in a biker suit examined its color, its emptiness, and sniffed the insides with his.<p>

"Heh," he mumbled. "Those kids were here."

"What kids," said the deep voiced behemoth.

"You know, those psychic boys."

"Yeah, what about them?"

"They could be around here."

"Who cares, they're not our business. Come on, I want to get out of this dumb hellhole even if it doesn't affect me."

"Don't be a grumpy king…oh, wait, you are one!" He made his usual evil laugh.

"Shut up, you. When the test is done, I get the choice to beat the snot out of you, you know."

"Then ya' better make sure I pass if you want that!" He returned to look at the bag. He sniffed it again, and then looked at the trees in the far distance. Without any other word or thought, he put the red bag in his black backpack.

"All right ya' oversized tortoise, we can get outta here now."

"Hmph, finally." The two of them walked further into the desert, never caring about the intensity of the sun as they ventured off into the unknown.

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><p><strong>Lenne<strong>: So for those that just can't figure it out in case, the last bit was the evil duo, Wario and Bowser talking.

Anyways, don't forget to leave a nice review! They're like a delicious cookie. Feed me!


	8. Initiation: Day 2, Part 2

**Lenne**: Omg, two chapters in one day?

*looks at clock, it's 12 AM*

Darn it!

Well anyways, the yaoi lovers will love the teasing in this chapter. Please, grab some popcorn, then prepare napkins for any possible nosebleeds I will not responsible for. ...Maybe I will actually.

So, **warning, chapter contains nudity/lime.**

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><p><span>Chapter 8: Initiation: Day 2, Part 2<span>

Ness and I arrived back at camp safe and sound, with the exception of the both of us being sweaty and smelly. Ness suggested we both take a bath, and our only source of bathing water was the river. We decided to walk down the river a bit more from our camp where the fish were not swimming around carefree, and where the current was slightly less powerful. We found a calm spot, where the clear waters were still running, but enough to not push us away or conflict with our bodies.

Ness and I sat down first to rest our legs. The both of us took off our shoes and socks, tossing them and leaving them by two large rocks next to each other, and we set our feet into the water. The slight cool temperature of the water relaxed our feet, and we sat there, enjoying the peaceful feeling. AS we let our feet soak and legs rest, Ness took off his backpack and grabbed a spare set of his clothes. All our relaxing had made me forgotten.

I was going to bathe with Ness…

Wait, no, are we going to wash up separately?

How did Ness feel about this? Is he shy being naked around others?

And what am I feeling…? I'd dip in the hot springs as much as I wanted to in my home world, even with my friends. But…just why is the idea weird with Ness…?

Ness spoke and snapped me out of my thoughts. "Well, I guess we better start getting in." He started to take off his shirt, having a slightly hard time with how the sweat was the small friction. But soon, he got it off him, making him gasp to get air, and tossed the shirt to the side with our shoes. Ness also tossed his hat away, and then I looked at his hands starting to unbutton his shorts. I couldn't help but blush…in fact, it was a weird feeling, because I couldn't blush instantly on sight of something so…what's the word…hot? No, why is this 'hot' to me? Is the right word 'sexy'? Wait, no! Why am I thinking of this?

"Lucas?" Ness said.

His head gave me a questioned look as his hands stopped at the waist of his shorts. He caught me staring at him. Oh gosh, what is he going to say next? _"Why are you staring at me?" _or something like _"You like what you're seeing?" _No, Ness isn't the kind of guy to say something like that.

"Aren't you going to bathe?" he asked.

I attempted to calm down within one second. "Yeah, I will."

"Now?"

"Uh, yeah." I understood what he was getting at; he was wondering why I wasn't undressing yet.

"Then you better start taking those sweaty clothes off," he said with a chuckle.

I said nothing at all. He really didn't care about embarrassment. Still, why am I not feeling certain with this?

Ness interpreted my silence differently. "Are you…embarrassed?"

"N-No! I'm not," I replied.

"You look like it." He gave me another smile, with a feeling of disappointment. "If you want, we can just sit with our backs facing each other. Or we can just wash up separately, whatever you wa—"

I cut him off. "No, it's fine! We can…we can bathe together."

This sounded so awkward. Regardless, I took off my shirt in a rush, and took a same gasp for air from the struggle to take it off. Ness drew his legs back and slipped off his shorts, leaving himself in blue underpants. He threw his shorts away at the rock as I began to unbutton my shorts and slide them off. I recalled the kind of underwear I was wearing…and when I looked to make sure, it was certainly less…"manly" and more revealing than Ness'. Ness stood up and then took off his underwear, and threw it at the pile of clothes. Without even looking at me, he slowly stepped in and sank into the not-so-shallow water. Ness walked on the slippery stone ground of large rock with cracks in them, closer to the middle of the river and sat down with crossed legs, only having the water reach up to the bottom of his neck. He focused on how cool and relaxing the water was as the river weakly flowed. I used the time to slip off my white briefs and hid it under my shirt and shorts, and threw the combination of clothes at the rocks. Then I hurryingly slipped into the water, trying not to make a squeal from the instant cold. Ness realized the splash I made three seconds later and turned around, seeing me sitting at the edge of the river. I said nothing about his smile. Then, he began to crawl carefully towards me. I stared at an empty spot in the river to resist from seeing his lower area. Once he reached me, he sat down about a foot away from me, letting his legs rest forward and arms set down touching the stone ground. I hugged my knees, still feeling awkward about everything.

Nothing was said between us for a minute. All Ness did was watch down the river then back up the river, and I could only stare at my knees. There just wasn't anything to talk about. What could we even talk about in this situation?

"You're pretty boring, Lucas," Ness said. I looked at him, a bit offended at the remark.

"Am I?" I responded with a small grin. I looked at the sky, and the sun stopped shining on us. I could only see the flawless blue and the slow drifting clouds.

Then a splash of water hit my face.

I looked at Ness again. He had a different smile now, it was more evil, and entertained by the fact that he just splashed at me.

"You're mean," I retorted.

"Am I?" he responded. He was just asking for it. I turned my body over and splashed water at his face, making him flinch back.

"Oh, now you want a fight?" he said amusingly. I started to crawl back as Ness inched closer, and aimed another splash of water at me. I took a direct hit and wiped my face off. I countered back with another splash, but he blocked his face with his right arm. I threw another splash in surprise and got his hair, only having a chuckle that lasted a second before he created a wave to hit my face. Then he laughed.

We both carried on the splish-splash war for a while, sharing giggles and enjoyment with each other. I eventually fell tired and gave up, notifying Ness to stop as well. I sat near the middle of the river now, sitting while hugging my knees, facing the direction of our camp. I heard small splashes coming closer, telling me Ness was crawling up to me. Then my neck was grabbed.

"Gotcha!" he exclaimed.

"H-Hey!" I tried to move out of his surprise attack.

"Don't struggle, or you're going to be holding your breath!" I heard him laugh at my fight for freedom. Then I stopped and let him touch me, which was strange of me. For a situation like this, I wouldn't let anyone touch me other than my family. But Ness…made me feel secure again. Seconds later, Ness let go and turned around, pressing his back against mine. I could feel he was then sitting in the same position I was.

We both said nothing for the first few seconds after, but then Ness spoke.

"Hey Luke…"

Luke. I remembered he gave me a nickname out of our friendship.

"Yeah?"

"What am I…to you?"

…Why that question out of all others? No…I shouldn't degrade it. Ness sounded serious.

"You're…" I said. He was a friend to me. No, he was more than Red, Toon Link or Pit. It was never finalized for me…but…

"You're…" I said again. Then I continued. "…my best friend."

"…Okay." He didn't sound dissatisfied. But his tone didn't really tell me if he was happy with my answer either. I heard more noises of a moving object in water. Ness crawled again back to the edge of the water, letting his knees lift up in a laid back position. He gave me another friendly grin, and I gave one back to him. Instead of sitting apart from each other, I crawled towards him and planned to sit by him.

Then I made the situation worse.

Somehow, the piece of cracked rock my right hand was on was too slippery like moss had just disappeared from it and left a lot of its residue. I was already too close to Ness. My head began to fall towards his…lower front area. My left hand tried to reach for the ground, but there was just not enough time. I was already close to getting my face close to the water surface. I shut my eyes to not even peek to respect Ness and just stuck my left hand out in the air, hoping it would hit a large rock that would suddenly appear for me to hold onto. Instead, Ness grabbed my arm, leaving me still with my face in the water already. My right hand was left alone, until I moved it up in the air too for Ness to grab my wrist area. He pulled me up, and then our bedroom scene just repeated.

I was supposed to grab the edge of the river to give myself support, but Ness pulled too hard, leaving me panicking on what's going on, and with my eyes still shut, I grabbed the river edge next to Ness' shoulders without notice, and our heads were close again. We were more than just an inch close. We kissed again.

And worst of all, my body was just on top of him. Our front bodies were…touching.

My eyes were shut for the few seconds it happened, and then I opened them quickly. I kept holding onto the river edge and pushed back. We looked at each other again, both of us with flushed faces. I couldn't believe we had another accidental kiss. But I felt different. This time, I didn't pull back as fast as I did back in our room. I just stayed there, looking at him as he was to me, still confirming what had just happened. Then, out of an overwhelming impulse, I slowly leaned in, and he didn't bother to reject it. He accepted me. Our lips gently pressed against each other again. He kept his hands on the sides of my back. Our bodies still touched each other. Mainly…the private parts of our bodies. I could feel a very slight throb from myself…and even… Ness…

Just at that moment, Ness pushed me back so suddenly that I couldn't recover. I fell backwards and my body submerged into the water, with my head just hitting the stone. The pain was minor, but I still tried to cover my head, and then I had realized I didn't even hold a breath. I was going to drown! I covered my mouth and nose, struggling to get up, but I just couldn't. I started to close my eyes…seeing nothing else but bubbles from the air escaping me and a faint figure reaching for me...


	9. Initiation: Day 3

**Lenne**: ...Well, I have nothing important to say here. Go on and read :3

oh wait

Cookies. Yeah. Review so I can have cookies.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 9: Initiation: Day 3<span>

…_uke! Luke!_

I hear him…

_Come on, Luke!_

Ness…?

_Wake up!_

Am I…asleep? No…I think I took in too much water…

_Luke!_

I'm still here… but I want to wake up… and see your face…

…_Ugh! Can't believe I'm gonna do this._

Do what…?

…

…

…

I opened my eyes slowly, then immediately when I realized I was asleep. I didn't know for how long. The last thing I remember was that I was washing up with Ness. We were relaxing, then playing in the water, and then relaxed again.

And then we…

I got up, and found myself fully dressed in my new clothes. How did my clothes get on me?

Ness wasn't in the tent. I saw a glimpse of the blue sky surrounding the tent. I poked outside and saw that the sky was a different shade of blue now. It was probably before noon. I looked around the river, and saw Ness wasn't here. He went somewhere, I just know it.

I wanted to tell him I was fine now, but how long was he gone? Where did he even go? If only we could talk from distances…

I put myself back inside the tent and laid down on top of my sleeping bag. Then I just rolled to the side, seeing nothing else but the tent material and a black box with a speaker through it.

…The walkie-talkie.

I picked it up immediately, hoping Ness brought the other one with him. He should have, otherwise we wouldn't stay in contact, and if this was left in my bag previously, there must be a reason it was out here. I felt nervous, wanting to hear his radio-emitted voice. I was almost scared to hear his reaction when he finds out I'm awake. What will he say to me after he comes back? If he remembered what happened between us…then things would just be more awkward.

…No, it won't. Ness is my best friend, and best friends always try to never hate each other. They love each other as if brothers and sisters.

…But…Ness isn't my brother. He's my friend.

…Right?

"_It's like I can already tell we'll be more than just friends."_

….Maybe…we will.

…

I put all my focus on the topic aside and looked at the walkie-talkie. I was still scared to press the red button and send my voice through it. I was even more scared to receive a response. But no, I had to tell him I'm fine. And I needed to know where he is now.

The moment I pressed it, a red light emitted, meaning it was active. I took a silent breath, and spoke. "Ness? Are you there?"

I wanted to slap myself for sounding silly, and then stab my scared heart. I waited some seconds for a response, but there wasn't any. I set it down, staring at it for something to happen. A red light emitted again without me pressing it. Then, I got a reply.

"Lucas? Is that you? You're awake?"

"Yeah. Where are you?"

"I'm down the river exploring with the map. I'll be back over soon."

"O-Okay."

I still felt frightened of the conversation. I don't know why. Was it just the use of a walkie-talkie? No, it was because I was talking to Ness.

I shook my head again. If Ness wants to talk about it, then he will, and I have to face it. Right now, I'm just waiting for him. Waiting to see what he does…

Then I heard my stomach growl. I haven't eaten for a while. And I must have skipped dinner, seeing that I slept through the night. I found my bag lying beside our tent. I pulled out half of a ham, cheese and lettuce sandwich. It was still fine, so I consumed and tried to savor all of its taste. After consuming all of it, I was still hungry, so I ate the other half. I looked back into my bag. I had one full sandwich left.

I looked over to our rock bank where the fish was being held. We had a net of fish still trying to struggle free, meaning Ness must have caught some before he left. I felt sorry for the fish, waiting in boredom and terror to be eaten by us. But, we needed extra food once we ran out of our sandwiches.

I sat in crossed legs by the river in front of our tent. After setting down my communication device, I poked a two of my fingers, feeling the chill of the water as it flowed by. I grabbed a random pebble in the water and then tossed it into the river, hoping it would skip on the surface, but it just plopped and sank. I sighed, waiting for Ness.

Ness…

…

…

Why does it feel like he's not just a friend now?

And…why did I…

…I gulped back at our bath time accident…

…why did I kiss him in my free will?

…

…

I sat there, hoping someone or something would give me an answer. Then I heard a buzz from the walkie talkie.

"Lucas, I see you," it said. I looked down the river, and Ness was just some meters away. He waved his hand as he continued to walk up to me.

I didn't move at all. I just waited for him, looking at him, and then back at the river after he was about three feet close. He sat down with me, hugging his knees instead.

"So, how are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm fine. But what happened to me?"

"You were drowning before I realized it. So I pulled you out and tried to wake you, but you wouldn't respond."

_I swear I could still hear you though, Ness. Maybe it was just a special state of being unconscious._

Ness left a little pause after his last statement. I asked him again. "So then?"

"…Well," Ness resumed. He put a blush on his face. "I had to…give you…" He looked away. "…muth-tmth."

I didn't hear him well. "Huh?"

"…I just gave you air, then you coughed out some water, and passed out. So I took you back to the tent and took care of you."

"…Oh."

…Wait, if he gave me air, then doesn't that mean he… kissed me again?

And if before I was wearing clothes…did he look at my…

…I hid my blushing face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"N-Nothing."

"Well, okay then. Anyways…" Ness unrolled the map he had in his left hand, and showed it closer to me. "This is where we are."

I looked at the map. On a scale of an inch equaling a mile, it was a mix of green forests, brown desert, gray mountains, white snow and blue waters. We were at the center of the southeastern part of the map, most of the forest, where the river was flowing on ahead, and then stopped near the corner of the image. The river continued from the northwest, but then it stopped after an inch and flowed upwards, back into a large pool of water holding up at the north part of the map. To its right was more of the forest, to the left was the icy region, where I wondered who was unluckily sent there. It held a small area before it continued downwards to two-thirds of the map was just gray, full of stony mountains and little paths with small caves, and south of it and also slightly west of our current area that was marked with light brown was the desert. There was nothing else but pure tan, meaning there was nothing much special other than meeting the unbearable heat and the chance to get good supplies.

I took a look at the forest area. It nearly covered the right half of the paper with the exception of the pool of water. I was betting most of us were scattered in different parts, while Ness and I were lucky to land near the river. Still, it'd be nice to meet someone else though.

"So we were about here when we found the backpack full of stuff?" I pointed to a location, about two or three centimeters off from the light brown region off the forest.

"Yeah. It would have taken us an overnight walk to the mountains if we wanted to go there."

I guess that was why Ness suggested going back. We would have died there if we kept going onwards in the heat. "Is there any reason that we should go to the mountains? Red was going there in a hurry."

"Oh, I never told you?"

"What?"

"There's a few golden keys hidden in the mountains. In the ground, maybe in a cave, under a rock, whatever. If you can obtain one, you can cut your time here to one week."

I couldn't believe that. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. I thought I told you...did I not?" Ness looked innocent.

I smiled at his expression. "Not at all. But why didn't Master Hand or Crazy Hand say something like this?"

"It's just hidden information until the newcomer gets bored, then the veteran suggests it." He lightly punched my arm. "You seem like you're having fun though."

I felt my face flush a little. "Yeah, I am. The test is really easy."

"…Heh, try saying that tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? What's for tomorrow?"

"Remember, I told you dangerous animals would come out after some time."

"…Oh." Maybe it was a good idea to go to the mountains. But with Red already knowing, who knows how many more of the others are aiming for a key.

"If you want, we can pack and head to the mountains."

I thought about it. Then, I said, "No."

"Why not?"

"I can survive without some shortcut…" Not only that… "…and I need to get stronger on my own."

Ness said nothing about my goal. He only chuckled, and patted my head. "That's a good motive," he only said.

This head patting…it felt like my brother's hand.

I grabbed his hand and let go once Ness realized I wanted him to stop.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"N-…no, nothing," I lied. "I'm just…tired, I guess."

Ness smiled again. That warm, safe smile. "Then get some rest. I'll go hunt supplies for us." He stood up, but before he turned away, I grabbed his arm.

"But…won't that deduct some points from me since I'm letting you work?"

"I'm the evaluator here, so I choose not to deduct. Just this time, though."

I couldn't believe it. Ness was bending the rules once for me? Me?

"Now go on, get some rest. Keep the walkie talkie near you, though, in case I need something."

"O-Okay." I stood there, watching Ness beginning to turn away again and walk off into the forest with his device and the map. He looked at me again before stepping beside a tree, and then walked off.

I walked to the tent set on the grass, taking off my shoes and crawled inside, laying on top of my sleeping bag rather than going in it. I adjusted my body to fit the awkward comfort of the sleeping bag on the soft grass, and then set my walkie-talkie down beside me, taking one good look at it. It reminded me of Ness.

Someone that I think I'll really care for.


	10. Initiation: Day 6

**Lenne**: omfg an update after like a month, this is like one of the stories I really want to work on and I leave it.

I AM NOT WORTHY TO BE A WRITER. I AM NOT WORTHY. I AM NOT WORTHY. I AM NOT. NOT.

AM NOT.

NOT.

WORTHY.

WORTHY

i'm a cyborg.

Warning, there shall be blood.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 10: Initiation: Day 6<span>

"Another one? You're kidding me!"

"Not at all!"

Pit fired a Palutena's Arrow at the oncoming beast and kept running on the mushy, wet grass. Link followed behind him with his bow and arrow ready, firing an arrow rapidly. The beast took multiple shots, and after an eleventh, had eventually stumbled down and fell weak. Pit stopped and walked up to the beast slowly, with now his blades in hand, and slashed the beast once to end its life.

Link caught back up to Pit, and then looked at the five of other creatures they had slain. "Man, what a mess." He looked around the marshy grass, spread with beasts and their blood all over the field next to the lake.

"What are these things called again?" Pit asked.

"They're monsters, all of them. But this one is a blood bear, beasts with a great hunger for very rare meat."

"They look…so scary," Pit commented. He moved his foot to nudge the nose, and flinched back, thinking it moved on its own.

"Well they have to be. Master Hand thought of them."

"Sheesh. What kind of other monsters are there?"

"Well, around here are snake spiders…you don't want to see how freaky they look. Eight legs, a snake body…a hissing spider's mouth…eugh. And there are also croco-moles, crocodiles that live underground and attack when you step near them. "

"Oh gosh…" Pit looked at the ground, hoping there wasn't one hidden in the ground. "Any more?"

"Well…our camp should be safe back in the tree. But in the forest, there are still some blood bears, and gorilla rats."

"What are gorilla rats?" asked Pit, afraid of the name.

"Basically rats with the buff body of a gorilla. They're strong, but not as much as the bears. They just like to scavenge mostly, but will attack if they're provoked. And they mostly are in groups, so it's a tougher fight, especially in the forest."

"Ee…" Pit was feeling more afraid. He did think the creatures Master Hand created were a little uncreative, but he didn't have to make some of them so ferocious.

"Okay…let's just get back to the camp." Pit started to walk off onto the grass in a rushing manner, but then he was stopped.

"Croco-moles," Link yelled.

Pit readied his wings and began flying a bit above Link. The angel flew slowly as his veteran walked on close by, and was a bit worried for him.

"Aren't you worried that a croco-mole will attack?"

"Nah, I can handle them."

The angel sighed in shame.

* * *

><p>"N-Ness…are you sure we're safe?"<p>

"Positive. If we handled the first couple of gorilla rats, we can handle more."

I was still worried that we'd make a mistake and meet a dead end for the both of us. I kept close to Ness' side, hoping that he'd save me in case I had tripped and then was attacked.

On the fourth and fifth days, we found more supplies in the forest. We found a flashlight, only useful for the night, and a silver axe. We felt like we didn't need the axe, since our PSI was fine to cut wood, but we still kept it as a secondary weapon.

Other than finding supplies, we met our adversaries of the forest. Ness told me the only monsters we had to be worried about were the gorilla rats, since they were the most common in our location. There were also blood bears, which I didn't want to meet. We had to be careful in our travel. It was already the sixth day, and before we left on a venture we met a group of gorilla rats occupying a certain area. Thankfully, they couldn't handle PK Fire well, and we were able to scare them away without burning a tree. We continued our journey from yesterday and kept walking into the forest towards the direction of the lake in the north, according to the map Ness had. Our only purpose was just to explore so we don't laze around, but our trip so far was like an adventure, even though we were risking our lives.

We kept close to the river but we were still in the depths of the forest. It had been almost three hours of walking already, and estimated by the map, we were a half a mile away. It was probably around noon at the time, since we left in the morning after catching some fish with the net in my backpack and then cooking them using wood we could find and igniting them with our psychic fire. I had one cooked fish on a stick in my hand, wanting to eat it or throw it away since it was a bother just carrying it without a bag or sort to aid me. But for the rest of the time as I walked, I kept holding it.

We eventually reached a grassland area sitting near the forest. Ahead of us, we could see a vast body of water; it looked like an ocean, but we both knew it was just a very large lake. We took some steps forward to find the ground becoming slightly less dry. We walked closer to the lake, and the land became softer. At a point, our feet began to sink half a centimeter into the ground.

"The ground's mushy," I commented.

"This should be the marsh area," Ness stated. "We gotta be careful where we step though."

"Why?"

"Croco-moles. They'll bite your leg off before you know it."

My face fell to fear. Did he have to scare me so easily?

We continued walking onwards towards the lake, now being extra cautious of our stepping. I kept my eyes near the ground, watching for any surprise attacks for me to jump away. However, with the mushy ground delaying my speed, I wondered if I would be fast enough.

After a few minutes, both of us reached the edge of the lake safely. I had never realized the vast beauty of the water up so close, and it was an amazing sight, even for Ness too. He gave his great smile at the lake, complimenting its magnificence. I couldn't help but beam too; who wouldn't smile at something so crystal clear up close?

I budged my feet on the ground from our standing, since I was in the same stance for a while. I stepped back, but then I felt the ground rumble. Ness quickly shifted his eyes to the ground.

"What's…?" I started.

"Shh." There was nothing to be heard, other than the slow flow of the water. Then the earth shook again.

"Get back!" Ness exclaimed.

"Huh?"

I looked at where Ness just turned to, and immediately something began to emerge. The soil was breaking loose, and soon a figure already surfaced and leaped into the air.

I reacted quickly and jumped back, landing on the ground to the side. As Ness and I had dodged it, the creature crashed into the water. I couldn't look at it long enough to identify the being.

"Croco-mole," Ness stated.

If I had looked at it longer, maybe I would have a better mental image of a croco-mole. Then, I had my wish granted. More creatures began to appear from the ground where the first croco-mole had appeared. Their hideous bodies were trash-green colored, shaped like regular alligators, but their long tails were gone. Instead, they had a short, black ending, along with slightly longer legs and claws that came from their underside, which should explain the jumping and digging ability.

"Hit them with fire!" I heard from Ness.

I did as told, and wanted to use my energy, but I already spotted some croco-moles beginning to crawl toward me. I ran, away from the edge of the lake, away from the group of possibly eleven, and away from Ness. He was already busy blasting away his selected band, so I had to do something too. As I fled away from the now running pack coming to me, I concentrated on releasing fire. Just when I had enough, I forced the energy from my palm and sent it at the head of one, flipping it away and flinching one near it.

It wasn't over, yet. A few were still coming at me. I kept using PK Fire, but my first couple of shots missed. I had to circle around the original pack, and headed towards Ness' direction. He was finishing off his last chaser as I was about to ready my attack again. I turned my head, and released another shot of flame from my palm, hitting two croco-moles that were running beside each other and weakened them.

I had one more left, and I had already noticed Ness already finished with the rest. I wish I had time to think and admire how strong he was to finish off already about seven of the creatures, whom were now laid weak on the ground, but I had to get rid of my last one to do so. It was already close to me, so I had to quickly make one shot and win or miss and take a fatal hit.

I made another quick concentration for PK Fire, and sent it flying at the croco-mole. It hit!

But it shrugged off the damage and still kept running. Why wasn't it knocked out? Why!

I began to ready another blast, but the mushy ground already slowed me. I lost my pace and tripped.

No. No way. This can't be it for me.

I couldn't do anything else. I wouldn't have enough time to flip over and fire, as the croco-mole already jumped and readied its claws.

Ness…

…Help…

I heard my name shouted as I shivered in fear on the ground. Then I heard a scream. His scream. A scream of agony.

I looked up to see what was going on. Ness was lying on the ground, holding his stomach area.

Blood was leaking. Dark, red blood. No. No!

"Ness!" I hurried up to him and turned him over as I lifted his head up with my left hand. He was still groaning from the damage, with tears flowing from his shut eyes. I looked down; the blood was spreading fast on his shirt. I could only wish he could share the pain with me, or at least had given it to me. Why? Why couldn't it have been me? Not Ness, please.

A hideous growl knocked me out of my regret. I turned my head, and the croco-mole was up with energy. It began to crawl, and then rush at me.

Is this it? I won't pass the test? I wouldn't be with Ness then. And then he'd forget me.

I had to do something. Something. Anything!

But all I could do was pray. Pray that Ness won't forget me as I die along with him.

I held him close, shutting my eyes, awaiting my death.

Everything was black. My eyes were still shut. It had already been seconds, so I must have been struck already.

…No, I don't feel pain. My body worked to find the areas of pain. No, there was nothing. What happened? Am I already dead? No, I could hear something.

I awoke again to the screech of a dying sound. The croco-mole was tossing back and squealing wildly. Its side was shot with an arrow. I watched it crawl in the air, wanting its deity to give back its life, and then it slowly died.

Who saved us?

"Lucas!" I heard. The voice was familiar to me. It wasn't Red, or Mario. Not Pit, or Link either.

Toon Link?

I looked to the direction of the voice. He was standing there with his bow, next to Zelda who had a worried face staring at us. After checking that the area was clear, they ran up to us. Both of them bent down to my height.

"Is he okay?" asked Toon Link.

"Ness," said Zelda, "Ness, wake up!"

"I…" we heard, "I'm…okay…"

"No you're not," I said, about to cry. If only I had my healing abilities, yet for some reason I couldn't conjure them. Come on, where was my Lifeup **γ**? Even a Lifeup **α**! Please!

I made no hesitation to set Ness down lightly and take off my backpack. I quickly pulled out the first-aid kit, hoping there was something that could help. I set the box in between Zelda and myself, and opened it. Inside the kit were plentiful of bandages, ointments, and disinfectant. But other than that, there was a small set for suturing.

"We can stitch the wound, but I don't know how…" I said with a slightly strained voice.

"Neither do I," added Toon Link.

"Let me do it," said Zelda, eyeing at her gloves. She looked worried about dirtying herself.

I rested Ness' bloodied hand on the ground, and lifted his shirt. The three of us could see the wound on the left side of his lower body. There were three scratches, two maybe about two inches long, the other just slightly shorter, all of them deep. Blood was leaking fast, already on all of his stomach and a bit on his upper area. I wanted to throw up from this sight, but I couldn't from having to see Ness in this kind of suffering. Zelda told Toon Link to be ready to help her when needed, and then took the needle and began the procedure. I didn't want to watch. All I did was cower my head beside Ness' head, leaving me in some tears for hope, and hug my arm on his clean shoulder. I kept close to his face, whispering to him that I didn't want him to leave.

I could hear Ness lightly breathing. Stay with me, please. Don't die. Don't.

I need you, Ness…

* * *

><p><strong>Lenne:<strong> I will now try to update faster, but I get homework over this Christmas break.

Seriously?

HOMEWORK? OVER A BREAK? （╯╬ ಠ益ಠ）╯︵ ┻━┻


	11. Initiation: Night 6

**Lenne**: Psh, I won't let a bad ending stop you guys.

Warning, more blood, lulz. Probably the last anyways.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 11: Night 6<span>

…_as…_

…_cas…_

…_Lu…ke…_

…_Lu…cas…?_

…_Am I…dead?_

…_No…_

…

…

* * *

><p>I set Ness down lightly beside the open tree bark, and then I took off my backpack and set it beside him. I stretched out my shoulder muscles, and then looked at the river to our destination; thankfully, there was enough little sunlight to see the rest of the endless path within the evening.<p>

I kneeled down beside the river, cupped some water and splashed it in my face. The water was somewhat warm, fine enough to wake me out of my worries. I looked over at Ness, who was sleeping in his spot.

_Thank you, for letting him live._

I got up, walked over to his body, and kneeled down to his level. His eyes were innocently closed, hopefully dreaming or finding the light to his awakening. I lifted his shirt to check his injury. The stitches Zelda made were not professional looking, but it was secure enough to keep Ness living. I wanted to brush my hand against it, so I could feel what it was like, but I could feel disgusted of the touch, and I don't want to hurt Ness anymore in anyway.

His shirt was still stained in his blood, which was now dried. Blood was also glued to his skin as well. Maybe I'll clean him up when we get back to camp.

I crawled closer, if I could, and looked at his face again. I leaned against the tree as he was already doing. I wanted him to hear me from my touch, but I knew he couldn't. There couldn't be a way to wake him up like that. I caressed his cheek, in hope that the try would do something. But it did nothing. He was still unconscious. My hand was still feeling his soft, cool cheek. I stared at his features: his nose, ears, lips, closed eyes, and then forehead.

Wait…

…Forehead…forehead…telepathy.

I immediately adjusted myself to a more comfortable position for when I lean. As soon as I felt okay, I leaned my head forward, aiming my head carefully to his head, and slowly continued.

Just an inch before his head, I remembered something. The one door I found locked deep within his mind from our previous telepathic communication. I unlocked that hidden door secretly, and now it was sealed back within my mind, but now I've found it again.

_Ness…loved me._

And it made me wonder, do I love him too? Do I love this boy?

Wait, why would I love boys? I'm supposed to love girls. Or maybe, that's what the world is thought to be like normally. There shouldn't be a rule on boys loving other boys. I know there isn't one either, because I already know there's no rule that restricts Ness loving me.

So maybe, I should love him back. No, I think love him already…

…

I resumed leaning in, more slowly.

…Almost there.

…

"_I can already tell we'll be more than just friends."_

…I couldn't help but smile. We'll be more than just friends, huh? I guess you were right, Ness.

I cleared my thoughts just in time. My forehead came into contact with his successfully. I now let my prayers do the work. Come on, Ness. Wake up. Wake up, please.

"_Wake up. Wake up, please. Ness…"_

"…_Lucas?"_

"_Ness? It's me! Come back, please. I need you!"_

"_I…want to…"_

Something interrupted our telepathy. A shriek from depths of the forest instantly shocked my body. The sound was familiar, though.

Gorilla rats.

Two jumped from the tree branches above and landed on the rocky ground behind us. I immediately stood up, spreading my arms out to protect Ness. Their white fur and short paws with claws made them look harmless at first, but then they crawled closer. I know their innocent faces were not innocent at all. That was part of their trick—act like angels until I turn around so they can try to steal Ness away from me. I won't let that happen.

"Get back," I said in a darker voice. In my mind I sounded unreal, but I had to seem scary to show I did not mean any friendship with the giant rats.

They took a step closer, still showing benevolence.

I was not going to stick to warnings any longer. I readied my right palm with PK Fire, ready to release it. Just one more step, and you get this scorching blaze in my hand thrown at you.

The gorilla rats looked more worried now, and stepped back. Then they turned around, and began to walk away.

I wanted to let out a sigh, but I had to stay still, to make sure that if they had keen ears to hear my sign of relief so they could immediately turn and attack. I watched them walk away still. They turned their head once, staring at me for many seconds, and then returned to walking. They were now many trees away.

I calmed my body down and tried to shake off the tension. All was clear, I repeated. All was clear and calm.

That is, until the gorilla rats screamed.

I returned my eyes back to up where they were, and saw one just tossed up into the air. Some kind of liquid was leaking along with its body. Blood, I recognized. What…?

I returned my glance to the other gorilla rat. In front of it was a larger beast; the creature that I wished I would never meet. Its body fur black, parts of it dark red, and face and claws now smothered in the crimson blood from the first gorilla rat. It raised its height on its two legs, and then pounded its claws deep into the gorilla rat in front of it, immediately gushing out a rush of red.

The behemoth of the forest, and the king of massacre: the blood bear.

It began to gnaw on the skin of its prey, chewing slowly and savoring the raw taste of fresh meat and blood. I wanted to take Ness up immediately and run away, but I had a feeling the blood bear was given acute hearing. If I had even dashed into the forest, it would chase me. If I even make a step here, I would soon become the next meal.

I stood still as much as I could, trying not to let my body move by even a millimeter if possible. I kept my eyes on the beast now just eating the arm of the gorilla rat. I kept my sight on it for at least two minutes now, wanting to move already. Soon, the blood bear began to turn around and walk away. It wasn't clear yet. Keep going, blood bear. Go away.

It was almost stepping out of my eyesight. Almost there.

But then it turned its head. And it kept there. And it turned around.

No. No. No…

Its full body turned around, now putting its eyes at me. I still kept still, my body now even tenser, and readied myself for the attack. It began to step closer. Another step closer. And another step closer.

I had to do something before it could finalize its thoughts to run at me. What ability would work? Fire, yes. Fire could burn its fur. Ice could halt its movements too. Thunder can give it a ton of jolts to disable its body.

I couldn't decide which psychic power to use. All of them seemed too useful or useless at the same time. I had to do something either way.

I set my palm out and began to concentrate. Once the blood bear saw me move, it began to pace faster. It was just meters away before I released PK Freeze, and immobilized its feet to the ground. I knew it was temporary, though, so I quickly readied PK Thunder. The blood bear broke free of its ice locks and began to come forward faster.

I sent out a stream of lightning immediately, striking the bear's face. It was thrown back and onto the gorilla rat's bloodied body. I walked closer, so that if it ran, I'd run away from Ness' spot. I watched my distance, keeping a ball of fire in my hand when ready.

The bear slowly got up, and then stood on its hind legs, showing its fearsome red body from the blood of the gorilla rat, and roared loudly. The trees' leaves trembled of the vibration, making me wonder for a second if anyone had heard the same sound. I wish someone did, so someone can help me.

The blood bear returned to its normal stance, and began to crawl closer in a faster pace. Before it could reach within four meters of me, I sent out PK Fire quickly. It was a direct hit on the side of its body, but it only flinched the beast. The bear began to dash now. Once the bear was about to attack, I immediately rolled out of the way from its attempt to slash me. I sent another blast of fire to its crimson back, notifying it of my location. It roared again, now in annoyance and anger. I took the time to ready another blast of thunder and directed the stream to its side, sending the bear into the water. It was knocked down.

I quickly rushed over to Ness and opened my backpack. I took out the silver axe, and put it in my hand. It was time to kill the beast off for good.

I stepped into the water, keeping my grip tight on the axe. I treaded closer to the downed bear, still being cautious. I looked at its shut face. It was the best spot to strike. I lifted the axe, and made no second thought to try and strike down. Time to end this.

And it was the end. For me. I was knocked back by the backside of its paw and sent flying, landing on the ground beside the river. The impact further added more pain to me.

I lifted my head weakly and looked at the bear. It was now up, and it resumed eyeing me. The blood bear was almost close. I couldn't ready a psychic attack. I had no more energy. It was the end.

_I'm sorry, Ness. I guess I won't be with you after all._

A tear began to fall out of my eye as the bear began to stand again, readying its claw.

_Ness…I…_

…_love…_

…

…

A bright light began to shine beyond my eyelids. Once I used my conscious arm to protect my sight, I opened it slightly, and then tried to observe the situation. The blood bear stood there, but it wasn't moving. Suddenly, it collapsed and fell back into the water, motionless. It was dead.

_What happened?_ I sat up and looked at myself. I didn't do anything at all. There was no way I could have killed it. Unless…

…

I immediately looked over to my right. Ness was there, lying on the ground. He woke up and saved me.

"Ness!" I cried. I got up quickly and ran over to him, lifting his head with my hand. He moaned softly, meaning he was conscious.

"Hey..." he groaned. "You…okay?"

I began to cry again. "Of course I'm f-fine…" I lightly set my hand on his stomach, "…but what about you?"

"No problem…" he responded. "Just glad…you're fine." His hand reached up for me, but I took my free right hand and grabbed it. The contact with our two hands made me feel cozy and safe, stopping my few tears. It's like I want to be with him forever like this.

Ness began to close his eyes. "Let's go…" he whispered, "…back to camp." I smiled, hoping he'd open his eyes for just a little bit more so he could see it. I set him down lightly and put on my backpack first, tightening it so there would not be a single bit of a loose feeling. I picked up Ness first so he could sit up, and then I turned around, reaching for his arms so he could hold onto me. But instead, he had the energy to wrap his arms around my neck.

"I'm still here," he whispered.

"Okay," I responded. "On three. One, two….three." Ness attempted to get up with the rest of his remaining energy, leaving me to pick up his legs. I grabbed them successfully and I secured him, leaving him to rest on top of my backpack.

I took a few steps forward to make sure the weight was okay, and then I spoke to Ness."It's still a bit more, so hang on, okay?"

"All right…" he answered. "I'll…sleep."

I resumed taking my steps again, and eventually got my steady pace. I carefully strolled past the dead animals, and back to following the river path. Our camp was just maybe a mile away now, and hopefully I'll be able to take care of Ness better by then.

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><p><strong>Lenne<strong>: Oh yes. More lovey-dovey stuff soon~

But there shall still be bad parts. Because you cannot have a story without bad parts. And cookies. So give me cookies, which are reviews. So give me reviews, because you cannot have a story without reviews.


	12. Initiation: Day 7

**Lenne: **Was feeling sleepy while making this chapter so there is a chance that my writing will be less...artistic, and possibly bad syntax and grammar.

Oh I bet you guys don't know what I'm talking about. Shoo and go read.

**Warning, lime.** Meaning deep kissing and what the hell ever. OH LOOK SPOILERS, I bet you want to read now, huh?

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><p><span>Chapter 12: Initiation: Day 7<span>

Lucas forced me to rest after we got back to camp. I would have guessed it was around seven, two hours' worth of walking for Lucas after I saved him from that blood bear. A death by PK Flash really took a lot of my energy, so I accepted sleep without worry.

The next morning, which should be day seven, Lucas still forced me to rest my injury. I left all the work to him: catching the fish, getting more firewood, and patrolling the area. I was left in the tent, staring at nothing else but the boring green tent material, but I had better thoughts to dream about knowing Lucas cared this much for me.

In the afternoon, probably around four, Lucas helped me wash the dried blood off my body. We went down the river to where we bathed. Before I went in, though, Lucas put on the waterproof dressing that was fortunately packed along in the first aid kit. Then, I took off the rest of my clothes and slowly dipped into the river. I wanted to turn my head around, to see if Lucas was undressing or watching me, but I couldn't so not to risk our current friendship. If I don't make any fatal mistakes that would risk our friendship (though, how would I with my injury that keeps him caring for me), then maybe at this rate, Lucas will…

I shook my thoughts off as I felt the warm water slightly irritate the area around my injury. I slowly resumed sinking in, and then attempted to get used to the slight pain I was getting. Soon, Lucas got in the river too, checking me immediately.

"Is the wound okay?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah," I lied. He extended his hand out to try to touch it, but then stopped, probably remembering that it'd hurt me more or if it'd be more awkward, considering we were both naked right now.

I sat in the warm water, relaxing myself, not worrying about anything else, including my injury. Then Lucas reminded me of something.

"That blood won't come off itself," he stated.

I looked down. I could see bits of a reddish color mix in the water, but the rest of the blood still stuck onto me. "I guess you're right," I responded.

I used my right hand to gently rub my stomach area, and then I began doing light scratches shortly after, now getting sprinkles of blood flow into the water. I didn't get the spots fully cleaned, leaving very small bits glued to my skin, so I rubbed harder and scratched harder, successfully removing the dregs, but I left my skin pinker from the friction.

"Is there any on my back?" I asked Lucas, showing him my back.

"Yeah," he said.

"Could you…get it off?" I requested. I hoped he wouldn't reject, but he probably wouldn't anyways.

"Sure." He began with the gentle rubs, and then light scratches on my skin. I couldn't tell if he removed them successfully, but he kept scratching for a while, leaving me in numerous thoughts about how does Lucas feel about this, is he okay with it, is the blood coming off, is he tricking me that there isn't any blood and he's doing this on purpose, and more.

"Done," he said. I turned my back against the edge of the river and sat in relaxation again, but Lucas touched the right side of my body.

"You missed a spot," he said. I looked down and saw some patches of red were still left. He scratched them off for me.

"I could have gotten them myself," I stated.

"Well I'm just being nice," he said with a grin. He sat back into his leisure and stared into the water. I gazed at the water too, dreaming to have Lucas lean against my shoulder, and maybe begin a tickle fight on me. I just want to be closer to him, but I need to be fully certain of his feelings…

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><p>…I wonder if I should tell Ness about my feelings. I guess I already do like him, so things should be less tense for the both of us when all of the truth is out. But I still can't pull myself together to tell him how I feel. Just what is preventing me from tell him? Maybe I'm scared. Scared of what? Scared of rejection? Ness won't reject me! But still, why can't I tell him? Maybe I'm just not ready yet…<p>

It was silent for the both of us for a while. I should say something.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, positive," he replied.

For some reason, I disliked him just saying he was feeling fine. "Do you…want me to do anything for you?"

"…Well…" What was he going to say? I hope he didn't think of anything naughty… "…Could you…massage me?'

I looked at my clean hands. These, touch Ness? Well, I couldn't really deny him anyways.

"Sure. Turn around." He turned his back to me, wrapping his arms around his knees. I scooted closer, and then began to press lightly on his shoulders, and turned them into calm squeezes. He didn't say anything, so I just continued trying to please him. Then, he said something.

"Wait," he told. "This…isn't comfortable."

"Am I doing bad?" I asked.

"No, you're doing okay…it's just that I don't feel good in this position." What did he mean?

Ness got up and crawled over to my right. He told me that he wanted to sit with his back facing the edge of the river. So with that, I was behind him, but I had to sit on my knees, because there was no way of telling if we would both be okay if Ness was in between my legs.

I resumed rubbing and squeezing back. He was more pleased with the current position, but I wasn't doing well. My legs ached slightly from sitting on a rock floor, but at least it wasn't rugged or dry.

"Mm, thanks Lucas," he said after a while. "You can stop now." I did, and then sat back against the river, now relaxing myself once again. Ness turned around and looked at me, though.

"Want me to return the favor?" he questioned.

"N-No, it's fine." I blushed at the thought. I probably felt what Ness was feeling before, so that was probably why he didn't speak.

"You sure? I'm good at massaging."

I brought up another thought. Maybe I'd get closer to Ness that way, so I could probably confess easier later. "…I guess."

Ness and I switched spots, leaving me to hug my knees as I sat, but Ness sat with his legs up instead. He had to be close to me to be able to reach me, leaving me blushing at each other's proximity. His leg was in contact with my back, giving me a bizarre chill in my body. I felt awkward about this, but I shouldn't be. It's my chance to be closer with him.

His hands soon touched the both of my shoulders, and then he began with a light squeeze. Then, he turned them into rough rubs. They didn't hurt, but he was able to pleasure the muscles in my body. In a way, they hurt, but I let out a whimper that told him I liked the feeling.

"Good?" he asked.

"Yeah…" It really did feel good. His ways of stroking to stimulate my body were different than my ways. He put in more pressure and care to actually satisfy my body. He made me want to lean back against something, and so I did, against his legs, now erasing the awkwardness.

I wondered at some point if he would open his legs suddenly so I would fall back. But then it'd be an uncomfortable moment again, and it would be his fault, so he probably wouldn't do it.

I used the chance to start a conversation instead of leaving things silent.

"Hey Ness," I said.

"Yeah?"

…What to say? I didn't think it through. I had to say something; he was waiting on me. No, I couldn't think of anything. I could ask how my point score right now is, but then that would probably bring me trouble. But I had to use the chance for something! Just what to say? I recalled our past events: when we first met, the start of our friendship, our first kiss...no, disregard that thought, the beginning of our test, the rest of our test, our second kiss…

…

"Remember…our kiss?" I said. Ack! Why did I say that!

He stopped massaging me. He probably didn't want to remember, and now look what I did! I wanted to hit my self so mu—

"Yeah, I do. Which one, though?"

I kept my head turned away from him, hiding my deep blush. "The one here."

"Oh…yeah. What about it?"

There wasn't really any turning back now. What specific question should I ask? I recalled everything that happened during that time. I slipped on an accident and our lips pressed, then I pulled back, realizing what I had done. But then I liked that feeling and leaned back in. Then he pushed me, causing me to drown.

He pushed me…

"Why did you push me?" I finally said.

"Oh, that. Sorry, I didn't mean to. It was just…sudden."

"Oh…I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay…I mean…" his voice sounded a bit worried. I began to wish I didn't start this.

It became quiet again, but then Ness called me.

"Lucas."

"Yeah?"

"…Do you like…kissing me?"

I could feel my face flush brighter as the conversation became more embarrassing for me. I replied honestly. "…I do."

"…Then…do you want to kiss me again?"

I sat in silence. I felt like I said enough. But how was this still so embarrassing?

"'cause, I don't mind…" Ness added.

I turned around, trying to push away the fear overwhelming my body. I crawled to his side and looked at him, glancing at his sweet, purple eyes and warm, innocent smile.

"…Do you want to kiss me too?"

His face flushed red as well. He didn't say anything else; he only nodded. I grinned at his response, and then scooted closer, notifying him I was ready. He slowly leaned in too.

I couldn't believe I was already this close with him. From being friends, to best friends, and now…

…we're…

…

…my thoughts slowly faded as my lips pressed against his. I was melting from the sensation of his touch. It wasn't like our previous times; now that we both put in our care, it felt like we were both carried to paradise. He put his arm around me, pulling me closer if possible, making me feel more pleased. I pulled away to get a breath, breaking our trance. I put my hands on his upper body, feeling the warmth of his skin.

"…More?" he asked. I looked down at his chest and weakly nodded. He chuckled at my shy self, which I thought he must have liked. I leaned my head in, now putting our lips together again. This time, he moved his lips against mine, making me moan a bit. My heart was beating fast, and my body was sweating on the inside, but all the worry was erased as Ness and I continued to kiss. My mouth attempted to move in the same patterns as his, leaving us to begin small breaks to pant, but then we continued quickly after. His tongue began to touch my lips, and asked me to bring my tongue out to meet his. Our soft moans were the only sounds that we could hear each other make. I was held close to him, his arms still wrapped around me, and my arms under his, feeling the best amount of warmth and pleasure I could take.

But at a point, our lower bodies, which were stimulated by our kissing, brushed against each other, making me whimper and pull back. I wasn't prepared for that feeling, leaving me quite surprised.

Ness giggled at my sudden flinch. "Maybe we should get out now," he said. I nodded in agreement, with my face still red as a new rose. Ness turned to the edge of the river and got out first. I sat there staring at the water, trying to hide my erection, or at least wait for it to soften. There was no way I was going to walk out like that in front of Ness, or even if it was behind his back.

"You can stay in a bit if you want," I heard him say. I took the chance to clear my thoughts and relax. Soon, my lower body calmed down, and then I exited the water, finding Ness only in his denim shorts at the moment. We both quickly dressed and walked back to our camp, saying nothing else of the matter.

But I was still dreaming about our scene in the water. Maybe he was thinking about how pleasurable it was too. And maybe now, we would be much friendlier with each other.

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><p>I'm still wondering how Lucas felt about our little time back in the water. It was such a great feeling. Maybe we could do it again, but perhaps another time. Hopefully, he'll be more open to me before I leave him on the twelfth night.<p>

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><p><strong>Lenne<strong>: Don't forget to leave a cookie (review)!


	13. Initiation: Night 11

**Lenne**: Woo. Getting closer to my favorite parts soon. gosh more spoilers! I hate you people. You guys are trying to make me spoil you with hints. You must now be destroyed, unless you give me cookies (reviews), and then I shall spare your life.

Oh and some very soft shounen-ai/fluff whatever in this chapter. And a bit of language.

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><p><span>Chapter 13: Initiation: Night 11<span>

"_The eleventh night_," I said in my mind.

I watched Lucas from afar making sure our rock nest of fish was secure, before grabbing a fish in his hands. It struggled to free itself, but Lucas was able to get a tight grip and smack it on the ground. It was the third time I've seen him do something so violent as to kill a fish, and I felt it wasn't like him. However, he needed to make the fish still enough to be able to strike with PK Thunder.

I sat here on the grass, relaxing my stomach area. This morning, he asked how my injury was doing. I told him, with honesty, my wound was better. I couldn't feel the irritation around the area anymore when I sat or walked, yet Lucas still assisted me whenever I wanted to be somewhere. I'd put my arm around him and he would take his time taking me to a spot in the grass, or going out for a little walk in the woods. And in one of our walks on the eighth day, we found a sharp-edged knife that would make impaling the fish easier to cook with, so our hands wouldn't go through the pain of breaking durable sticks. But other than that, I was grateful for Lucas wanting to take care of me, even though I was fine now. He insisted I do no sort of hard work at all, leaving all the fishing, gathering, patrolling, and such to him only.

I smiled as he began to place a pierced fish over the campfire. The blaze near me warmed my skin, and I was comfortable with the feeling with now the cool temperature at the moment. Only the white moon and the fire were the only sources of light in this current dark night. Well, Lucas was always a shining star to me.

He grinned at me when he saw me staring at him. "Need anything?" he asked. He would ask that question constantly whenever I looked at him when he was near me. It was repetitive, but I'd always calmly reply, "I'm fine," and I did. His smile felt more nervous than mine, and I was fond of that sweet face.

I wanted to kiss him again. To have my lips taste the sweet flavor of his shy innocence anytime I wanted and anytime he wanted is pure paradise. Though, for the past days, we never talked about our past incidents. Our first kiss back in the temporary world, our kiss in the river the first time, and our second, intentional kiss, weren't mentioned ever since. I would guess Lucas is still feeling too timid to express everything he wants right now, so I had to be patient, even though it was agonizing to wait for Lucas be ready for anything he wanted to say. But I concluded the wait will be worth it in the end.

Three fishes were set on the fire and being turned carefully by Lucas' hands. I contributed as well, slowly burning away the last bits of rawness from the first fish he placed. When I knew it was ready, I removed it from the area of the fire and set it in the midair, hoping the cool air would quickly remove the high temperature on the fish.

I chomped on the top side of the fish first. It was crunchy and delicious as always.

The night was filled with silence. Even Lucas didn't want to speak. He was slowly chewing the second cooked fish with each bite, sitting close next to me. I could already tell he was exhausted from overworking to survive, with the way he was trying to stay awake by rubbing his eyes. I should have told him earlier that I'll be immediately cured after I leave, or even tell him I can't even die, but I couldn't waste all his hard work now and let him drop in shock. I appreciated it so much.

Maybe, before I leave, I could return the favor…

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><p>"Hmph. You leave tomorrow, don't you?"<p>

"Yes, I do. Are you satisfied?"

"Definitely! I don't have to deal with your turtle breath anymore!"

"And I don't have to deal with your bullshit attitude either."

"Oh! Never thought I'd hear that from you."

"Better to say all I want before I leave then, hm?"

"In that case, I'm glad I won't have to deal with your fat-sized ass!"

"Whatever. Are you done spying?"

"Yeah, yeah. We can go. Just let me walk first so I don't see your ugly piss-colored tail."

"Hrgh."

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><p>Lucas helped me walk to our tent once again after he put out the fire. After I crawled inside, he quickly made a quick run to the first tree on the grass, and checked beyond the blueness of the night for any danger. He returned soon, greeting me with his adorable self.<p>

Both of us were now in our sleeping bags. I stared at the roof of our tent, hoping the dullness would gradually put me to sleep. But I heard Lucas' voice.

"Ness," he said. It was a soft mumble, but I could tell he was calling my name to speak to me.

I turned my head to him. "Yeah?"

His back was facing me. Perhaps I was wrong, and maybe he was just dreaming. Dreaming about me? Heh. I was wrong again, though, as he turned over and looked at me. I could see a small glimpse of his charming blue eyes gazing at me in some sort of worry.

"…You leave tomorrow, right?"

I changed my face, feeling a bit depressed about the question. "Yeah…"

He laid silent there after I replied. He stared at the floor, trying to hide himself and his frown.

"Are you sad that I'm going to leave?"

"…Yes…"

He was still looking at the ground, so he couldn't see my grin. I struggled my arms out of my sleeping bag, and scooted closer to his side. He immediately looked at me when I was just six or so inches apart from him.

"Hey," I said softly. "Think of it this way. Survive for two days, and you'll get to see me all you want."

"True…" he agreed.

"And, from what I've seen so far...you can definitely make it."

"...Really?" he responded cutely.

I let out a small chuckle. "Really."

Under the moonlight trying to pierce our tent, I could now see his smile again. I wanted to tell him good night again, but in a special way, since I wouldn't be sleeping through the night tomorrow. I caressed his face, hoping he'd allow it. He didn't struggle my hand off at all. He accepted my gesture as if he loved it. I kept brushing my hand on his cheek, occasionally giving comforting pokes, and gently scratch under his ear. He closed his eyes soon enough and slowly fell asleep.

I removed my hand carefully off his face and put myself back in my sleeping bag. I hope I would get dreams that I'll cherish, since this would be the last night I'd spend with him until the last night of the test.

_Good night, Lucas. _


	14. Initiation: Day 12

Warning, attempted rape in this chapter.

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><p><span>Chapter 14: Initiation: Day 12<span>

It's already the twelfth day. I can't believe it.

And I've already made it this far. Who knew?

…Yeah, Ness knew.

I set down a log I obtained from cutting off a high branch onto the campfire ground. I adjusted the stones around the site to make sure they were secure, and double checked that everything was secure for cooking fish.

When I was done, I stood up tall and took a deep breath, and then I looked up at the clear sky. I've done a lot of hard work and I wanted a break, but I couldn't just yet. I had to keep working so I'd survive until the end.

As soon as I turned around, Ness began to crawl out of the tent. He got up and walked closer to me. I stood there, trying to stand normal until he was close enough to talk to me.

"How's everything?" he asked.

"Fine," I responded. I looked at his smile, which gave me some optimism to strive on, and then I looked down to his stomach area. "Is it okay now?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was going to go take a walk in the woods. Wanna come?"

Oh how I wish I would. "I can't," I say. "I got to finish up getting supplies."

"All right then…" he said. His slightly depressed tone was trying to persuade me to change my mind, but he turned around already and walked towards the grass where the roots were implanted on. I looked at him walking away and looking at the leaves of the trees. He looked like he had found something new to be explored.

"Did you bring your walkie-talkie?" I immediately say.

"Yeah, don't worry. I'll turn it on if something happens."

"Okay," I say. Even though he could turn it on, what if he couldn't? What if a monster restrained him or knocked the communicator out of his hands? I wanted to go with him, but it felt like he wanted to go alone anyways.

I stared at him walk further into the depths of the forest, and I turned around as soon as he was many meters away. I had to get back to work quickly, and who knows, if I'm done, I could catch up with him.

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><p>I was at peace as soon I got further away from our campsite. I kept feeling the tranquil wind tickling my skin. The rustling of the leaves in the trees soothed my ears. I was at total calm.<p>

I kept walking forward further into the forest, hoping to find something new or exciting to be discovered, and hopefully nothing unkind like one of the chimeras. I kept stepping onto the grass, but then I treaded on dirt ground. I looked around in my area. It was the same spot Lucas and I began at.

I felt like I traveled too far to be able to make it here. I should turn around. I felt a bit unsafe at this distance away from the camp.

"Well, hello there," I heard.

The voice was freaky. It shivered my soul as I turned around to see who it was. However, I already knew who it was. The roughness of the tone immediately reminded me of the man I saw back at the introductory room.

My eyes immediately shifted to a darkened figure under a tree. He walked out of the shade and onto the dirt area where the light illuminated his shape. It was the man with a W on his hat who wore blue shirt and a ripped jacket, along with pink-purple pants.

"It's you," I tried to say calmly. "Wario, right?"

"Yes…" he replied, stopping his movement. "And you're…Ness. That little boy's veteran…Lucas, was it?"

"I am. Do you need something?" I tried not to let my voice shake. The aura around this man was not benevolent. It pierced through my confidence and already put me in a state of anxiety.

"Well, you see…" he began to say. Then he resumed walking. Remembering quickly, I flipped on the listen switch on the item hidden in my back pocket.

"I have this problem, about my personality," he says.

"And what would that be?" I say, taking one step back.

"How should I say this…" he responds. He was only meters away, but they began to shorten with each step. "I have an obsession, you see."

"An obsession?" I restate.

"Yes," he answers. "For easy targets like you…" His wicked smirk was very threatening at this distance. I began to take more steps backwards.

"Me? A target?" I respond. "What do you mean?"

He kept walking towards me, saying nothing. I kept walking away, but eventually I hit a tree. I stopped, trying to resist running away. He was just a foot away from me.

"How about I show you?" he said. Then he grabbed my left arm.

"What—"

I was lifted up immediately. The pain from being pulled on already took place, and it began to hurt more on my stitched area. Desperate to want this to end, I cried out in pain. "Let go…!"

"Sure," he says evilly. I was dropped and hit the ground, and then I immediately took my right arm and grabbed my stomach. The stretch on the area was intense.

"Mm?" I heard. "What's wrong there?"

Immediately, he took his foot and lightly kicked me back. I fell and laid back on the ground. I attempted to get up quickly, but my leg was then stepped on. The immediate pain made me cry out, and then stopped my attempt. His arm grabbed my leg to pin it down, and then he used his other hand to lift up my shirt.

"Oh? What happened here?"

As if he cared. "None of your business," I respond rudely. I tried pulling my leg away, but his force was too strong.

"Oh, I guess you don't mind if I mess it up then." What did he…

His knee then took over his arm's job of locking me in place. His hand began brushing against my sutures. The pain was there of course, but I resisted crying out. Then I felt something I didn't want. His finger began to wiggle through the threads, touching the wound directly. I immediately wailed from the intensity of the agony. "Stop!"

He did as I wanted and then looked at his finger. There was a bit of blood on there, so he rubbed in on the ground to rid of the red.

Was his obsession being sadism? Why…why was this person chosen to be in initiation? Just…

No, I had to get away now. But there was just no way. I couldn't hit him; it was part of the vow for the rules of a veteran's help within the test to not harm any newcomer in anyway. But what else could I do? I was locked in place!

Things began to become worse. He ripped my shirt off.

"You see, Ness," Wario says. "I like targets like you. They are always…fun," he finishes with a chuckle. He dragged his finger slowly onto the center of my upper body, down to the button of my shorts.

No. He was going to…

I flailed my arms to try and slap him away, but he caught both of them and then put more force in his knee, which was still on my leg. I cried out again, weakening from the pain. He quickly adjusted himself and put my hands together behind my back, now pinning them with his legs. His hand resumed examining my body. Once he was satisfied, letting out a few hums in the progress, he began to unbutton my shorts.

He could already see the top of my blue boxers. He smiled at the sight, which made me feel disgusted at his fetish. No matter what thought I had, I wanted to get away from him, _now_. I can't lose myself to this man I don't even know.

The right side of my shorts was torn off as well. I was amazed and scared of his strength.

"No!" I shout. "Let me go!" I tried to wail my upper body, hoping that at a position my hands would be free.

I was stopped immediately from a punch to the stomach. I cried out immediately from the pure torture of the situation I was in. Then he stuffed my ripped shirt into my mouth, quieting my screams.

I threw myself back to the ground, enduring the pain in my stomach now, and knowing I could do nothing more. The top part of my underwear was already revealed, appeasing his sight at the moment. He tugged on the side, as if he was ready to tear it too. I looked to the side, not wanting to see any more of what I was about to go through.

But immediately, I heard a buzzing sound. And it was very familiar to my ears too. When I looked up, a blue spark flew from the side and threw Wario off of me, tumbling him onto the ground. My body was relieved of being locked, and I was fond of the feeling for the moment.

I saw Lucas rush up to me immediately and pulled out my shirt out of my mouth. "Are you okay?" he quickly said.

I moistened the insides of my mouth before I could speak. "I'm okay…" I attempted to push myself up, but then I was aided by Lucas putting his hand behind my back.

It was embarrassing, but I stood up only in my boxers on as my shorts slipped off. I held onto Lucas' neck as I stood up, still trying to recover from the punch I was given. Speaking of which…

I looked over at where Wario was blasted away by PK Thunder. Only a deep trail within the dirt was left as he was already gone. He must have already escaped while we weren't looking.

Lucas took a moment to grab walkie-talkie from my fallen pants and put it in his pocket. Then he helped me walk the way back to our camp. I was still feeling the pain around my stomach as it slowed down my pace of walking. When I looked down, my wound was bleeding a little. A stitch was undone from Wario's finger. Lucas wanted to reach for it, but I stopped him, and told him to keep going. At that point, Lucas told me to get on his back, and I did. It must have been a weird feeling for him to have to touch more of my naked skin, but he carried me back camp as I rested on his back, collecting my thoughts.

I still couldn't believe what had happened. Wario is too dangerous to be around.

I know for sure he's after Lucas too. If only I could protect him from now on, but I could only do so until the day ends.

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><p><strong>Lenne<strong>: Usually I would speak first at the top, but I didn't to make things a bit more...intense. Of course, there's the warning, but it's what I have to do.

Just so you know this is NOT my favorite part, lol. But next chapter...is one of my favorites, and most likely one of your favorites too. IF YOU REVIEW I guarantee you will enjoy the next chapter one hundred percent, so review!


	15. Initiation: Night 12

**Lenne:** Explicit content within this chapter has been moved to AFF. You may access it from my profile.

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><p><span>Chapter 15: Initiation: Night 12<span>

I sat down on the hard ground, staring at the water, and then at the few stars in the black sky. They're so pretty, I thought. If only I could stay here longer to look at them with him.

But it was inevitable. I had to go soon.

I turned around and looked at the closed tent. Lucas already crawled in earlier, and didn't bother to come out. I stared at the little gaps of the flap as the entrance, wanting to enter it and see what's wrong.

Maybe he's just sad. No, not maybe. He's definitely depressed about me leaving. I don't want to leave either. I wanted to stay with him until the end of this test. I want to be by his side at all times, but I guess, I could handle a two-day break. Maybe, Lucas couldn't.

I got up and then entered the tent. Peeking inside, I already saw Lucas comfortable in his sleeping bag, facing away from me. I crawled closer to his side, now just sitting beside his head. I took my hand and slowly scratched his head. I wanted to know if he enjoyed it, but there was no response. He was probably asleep already, I thought. It was sad. I wanted him to give one last look at me.

Then, he turned around. I quickly pulled my hand away and saw him get up and rub his eyes. He glanced at my stomach, and then stared at me. He looked anxious, and even scared and depressed. Even in this darkness, I could feel he wanted to cry.

"Are you okay, Luke?" I said.

"…Yeah," he said. His voice cracked a little, making me doubt him.

"I think you're lying," I said with a little grin. He gave no response for a moment. Then, he removed the sleeping bag from himself, and then crawled towards me. I thought he was going to hug me, or even better, kiss me, but instead, he threw his head on my chest. His arms attempted to wrap around my waist, trying to hold me tighter. I placed my arms on his back, but then, I heard a sniff. I could feel a small wet spot on my shirt where his eyes were. He was crying.

"Of course I'm lying!" he exclaimed. "Why…wouldn't I be okay? I just…"

I responded immediately. "Hey, hey, it's…don't cry, Luke. It's all right…"

He pushed back and tried to wipe his tears with his arm. I helped, lightly swiping drops from his cheeks with my thumbs. He was still sniffing, giving a little cough, and then tried to calm down with a few easy breaths.

"Luke?" I whispered. "It'll be all right, I promise. All you gotta do just eat and sleep without me, it's easy."

He began letting out more tears. Luke immediately threw his arms around me, resting his head on my left shoulder. "No it's not!" he retorted. "I can't go on without you! It's…no way…"

"And why's that?" I asked, now eager for his response. He said nothing else for a moment, only letting out a few sobs, still embracing me until he finally said it.

"…'cause I love you, Ness…" His arms began to hold me tighter. "…and I know you love me too…but…I just couldn't tell you yet. I was scared…that if…" his sniffs kept stopping him at some points, "…if I gotten too close to you I'd break down when you would leave me…but I guess I already am. I j-just don't want you to go. I w-want you to stay with me. _Please_, don't go…I need you…"

I held him tighter, returning his feelings. "I don't want to go either. But I have to, for your sake. I know it's hard…but I know you can handle it. You just have to have patience. Time will fly by fast before you know it." I gave him a little moment to take in the bit of advice, and then I continued. "And hey, when you pass, I promise that I'll take care of you from then on…okay? And… then I'll take you somewhere special."

He pulled away and looked at me. I helped wiped his tears, as he weakly asked, "You really promise?"

"I promise." I hoped my smile would reassure him. Up close, I could see his innocent, blue eyes now relaxing somewhat. Once he was calm, I leaned in and gently kissed him. He put his hand on the back of my head in return, wanting to keep my lips with him. But he had to pull away for a small breath.

I caressed his face again, trying to get him to relax further. He closed his eyes and rested his head on my shoulder again, now trying to be close with my neck. I moved the gesture of my hand from his face now rubbing his back. I enjoyed the moment we were having now, and I was sure he was too. I loved this moment. I don't want it to end.

Suddenly, a message echoed into my mind. Master Hand's voice. "_Attention veterans, you have thirty minutes until you depart. Please take care of final tasks to do by then_."

I stopped my motion, now signaling Lucas what I had just heard. "What is it?" he asked.

"…I…" I responded. I didn't want to say it. But I don't want him to see me leave abruptly. "I'm leaving soon. It's almost midnight, I guess."

Lucas' hands gripped my shirt. "N-No! No! I don't want you to go! Ness!" His arms then tightened around my body, in an attempt to keep me in place. "Don't go! Please…!"

I sighed lightly, wanting to cry too. "I'm sorry, Luke. But I have to leave." I held back my tears as I returned his hug.

We sat there embracing each other, for who knows how long, but I know it was less than at least two minutes. Finally, Lucas sat up and calmed down once again. "At least…" he whispered. "…kiss me again."

I smiled at his wish and at the perfect chance for my good-bye. I leaned in slowly and our lips pressed together again. This time, we moved our mouths again, enjoying it as best as we could. I lightly pushed him down, leaving me on top to him as we continued to make out. I added my tongue into his mouth, meeting his and savoring the wet taste of his tongue before we pulled away for a breath, and then resumed immediately. Our soft moans were the only sounds to be heard in the silent night. If only he could hear my thoughts say, "I love you so much Lucas, I love you so much Lucas."

Eventually we stopped and then stared at each other. I pushed my arms to be above him, now finally seeing his smile. He pulled me for an embrace again.

"I love you, Ness…" he whispered, "…a lot."

"I do too." We laid there, silent in each other's arms, until Master Hand's voice came into my mind again.

"_Fifteen minutes until departure."_

Maybe it was time now.

I got up and crawled backwards, placing my hands on the top of Lucas's shorts. I prayed he would let me as I continued to do my action. Once I placed my hands on the button of his shorts, Lucas spoke after now just trying to process what I'm trying to do. "What're you doing?" he questioned.

"Just relax," I responded. I lightly pushed his chest, and then he laid back. I unbuttoned his shorts quickly, and then unzipped it.

"W-Wait…Ness?" he said, grabbing my arm. "You can't…"

I crawled back up to his face and kissed him again, and then I pulled away. "Don't worry. It'll feel good, I promise. Just let me, okay?"

He looked back at me, still feeling nervous. "…O-Okay…"

* * *

><p>*AFF*<p>

* * *

><p>Lucas was still panting cutely. I pulled up his underwear and shorts, leaving them unbuttoned and unzipped. I crawled back up to Lucas' head, resting my lips near his ears. "I know you'll do fine. Pass for me, okay?" He gave no response, and I didn't mind, since he was still feeling exhausted. I kissed his cheek, and gave my last few words. "I love you, Luke."<p>

I pushed back up and then rolled over to the side. Lucas' hand grabbed my arm lightly. I looked at his half-closed eyes asking me to stay with him. His mouth moved, but I didn't hear. Though, I could make it out that he said my name. His hand shortly slipped and fell to the ground. Fatigue overtook Lucas, now forcing him to sleep.

I caressed his cheek one last time before I crawled out of the tent. I stood up and walked closer to the river, stretching my arms, and then looked at myself. I was still hard from the work I just did, and I wanted to get rid of the built up lust, but I didn't have time to wait for Lucas to recover and suck me off. I lifted up my shirt and looked at the wound. The part that was broken by Wario was sutured again by Lucas. Having to see him work hard for me, even on the day I'm leaving, warmed my heart.

Master Hand's voice spoke again. "_Veterans, prepare to leave._"

Blue lights sparkled in the sky, and immediately, one cylinder of light encircled me. I looked up around, seeing other lights strike the other veterans from distant areas. My body was quickly refreshed of all discomfort. The stitches were removed from my injury area as the wound began to heal instantly.

My feet began to hover above the ground. It was time. I turned my head to the tent, now picturing Lucas asleep in my mind. I gave all my hope and prayed for the best of him.

"I'll see you later, Luke."

I closed my eyes, allowing the light to transport me to a different world.


	16. Veterans' Resting

**Lenne**: I apologize for the...I don't know, 30 day lateness. First off, I still hate AP History. Oh, and Algebra 2 is also on the list for so much homework. Secondly, I recently just got a boytoy :3

So, to make up for it, I shall say that the story should finish in four chapters, lemon included. Remember though, I have been splitting these up by days and nights, right?

After all this, That One Boy is next on the list to finish. Well, please enjoy.

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><p><span>Chapter 16: Veterans' Resting<span>

Lying down on the red sofa, I heavily sighed out the last of my weariness. A day already passed after the veterans left the testing world. Now, all the veterans wait within the Brawl Mansion, continuing the one more day of no tournament fights, or watching the newcomers continue their test.

I recalled what had happened after I left on the twelfth night. All of the helping veterans were transported to one room, which was just used for landing. A few stayed behind in the area to chat while the rest, including me, headed back to our bedrooms to sleep. In the morning after breakfast, we reported our watch over our assigned newcomers to Master Hand. We listed our grades for their skill, survivability, and loyalty as ordered.

I hated to be harsh, but orders were orders. If I had lied to Master Hand, I probably would have received some sort of punishment.

I dropped my arm to stretch it, touching the exotic carpet design. I turned my head over to see Popo, who just cried from losing, and Nana playing a video game on the widescreen TV. The other ones within this one of the many living rooms right now were Fox and Falco, playing table football, Zelda, who was reading a book on the green sofa on the other side of the room, and Pikachu snacking on food with Kirby on the small dining table fit for four.

"You bored, Ness?" asked Nana. "Come join us!"

"Yeah, and help me beat Nana!" insisted Popo.

I looked at them trying to keep their focus on the TV. "No thanks," I replied. I got off the sofa and stood up, now feeling the tension slowly disappear from my body. I headed towards the archway and exited the living room, now standing in the hallway of red carpet and orange walls. I decided to go watch the newcomers' initiation.

Within this new, temporary room, were multiple TVs based on the number of the newcomers. Of course, there was also an additional to watch a moment of one, and then the screen switches to another's point of view.

Two things bothered me. One, was the room was quiet. Even though Link, Marth, Donkey Kong, and a couple others were in here, the newcomers didn't really have anything to show off. After all, it was just survivability within the wilderness. Although, within a minute, a few of the brawlers just cheered as they saw Meta Knight take down a blood bear with one swoop. I clapped as well, but the soft sound of my low care didn't make a difference.

The second thing that bothered me was if anyone was watching Lucas' TV. No one had mentioned anything to me ever since I got back. Every veteran continued their relaxation that began a month ago once the announcement of newcomers arrived. I felt suspicious about everyone. Maybe someone had seen me and Lucas last night. I really hoped no one did.

Although, chances are, Master Hand and Crazy Hand may have seen, with how they are the masters of this and the testing world.

I examined all the TVs, seeing live recordings of every newcomer. What surprised me was that I saw an icy environment applied to Ike's TV. He was currently heating up fish, most likely obtained from the icy waters in his area. Perhaps every newcomer was put in one of many different areas, except for maybe a few.

I walked over to Link and Marth on a white couch. Marth was watching Ike, while Link was watching Toon Link. Because their TVs were near each other, they had no choice but to sit on the same furniture. Currently, Toon Link was currently cutting up some plants with his sword, in which he ate parts of it after. He must have gotten some gathering knowledge from Zelda, or knew it himself. Ike continued to chow down on his pieces of fish, savoring each bite of flavorful taste and warmth.

"That Ike looks like a good partner for you, don'tcha think?" Link mentioned.

"Yeah. The way he took down that giant polar bear was way cool." Marth flipped his hair covering his eye and went back to watching his new possible partner.

Nothing else was of interest to me here. I turned back and went to the TV that I wanted to see most.

I sat on the white sofa and noticed the small white table in front of me. It carried a remote, which could flip the information on the screen: from the newcomer's basic statistics to pinpointing their location on a map. I laid my eyes on the screen in front of me. Lucas was lying on his side in the tent, even though daylight shined at the time. I could see on his still face that he was thinking about something. I know he misses me. I know that because I miss him too. I know that he needed me with him right now.

I kept my eyes on that screen only. I did shift my eyes to the other TV next to it, but turned back to watching Lucas after I saw Red was the highlight on that channel. I don't really like him at all. I feel like he's hiding his dark side just so he can take Lucas away from me. But nah, I shouldn't think that, even though I am right now.

Lucas still laid there. The only other action he did was a soft sigh, and then rolled over on his back. Within seconds, he got up and stared at the entrance of the tent. Then, he got on his knees and crawled out.

The camera zoomed out, although still close enough to get a good look at his features. He stretched his arms up and to the side, and then walked closer to the river. Specifically, he checked the nest of trapped fish. When I looked closer, I found out that the net had broken. There was only a couple of fish left in the nest too, swimming to find an exit between the rocks. It didn't matter; with two fish, one fish, or none at all, he would still make it for the last day and night.

Lucas went back to the tent and fumbled through his backpack. He grabbed his yellow towel and went back outside, walking down the river with it hanging on his shoulder. He was going to go take a bath while the sun was still out, likely warming the water. He must want to bathe one last time before he leaves.

With my worries gone, I smiled as I laid back more relaxed. I was still troubled that Lucas may want to be with me now, or break down out of nowhere. Still, all I could do was give my wishes and love from afar.

At that moment, a new figure entered the room. The great beast slowly waddled over near my area.

"Bowser," I said, almost dark. I haven't seen him since the test introduction. Not even yesterday. It felt like he wanted to avoid me, but from the information I obtained from Mario and Luigi yesterday, Bowser did nothing but relax like everyone else. Although, why did he come here?

"Hrgh," he mumbled in response. "Why're you here?"

"To watch the newcomers," I replied apathetically. "You?"

He turned to the TV that was somewhat away from the two in front of me. "Just seeing how that bastard is doing."

I would have acted like I was shocked by his language, but when I was reminded of his chosen newcomer, I perked up immediately. I stared at Bowser as he, indifferently, kept staring at the monitor in front of him.

"Oh…he's doing it," he said.

A bit of fear struck me. "Doing what?"

"Going to pay your friend a special visit." This time, Bowser said it with a slight grin, as if he was amused.

"What do you mean…?" I got out of my seat and hurried over to Bowser's side. In an overhead view, I found Wario walking through a mass of trees. His wicked smile of perfect teeth for gnawing gave me immediate chills.

"Hmph. It's too bad," Bowser said. "I guess Lucas will lose himself to Wario instead of you."

"W-What…?" Did he mean what I think he meant? No, it couldn't be. Wario is supposed to be following the rules. He broke rule three already, why do it again? He was going to get kicked off for sure. Or maybe, he'll do it, and enjoy the moment before getting kicked off. Then again, all his memories would be erased beforehand, so what's the point?

But no, I couldn't let Lucas get hurt. I won't let him. I immediately grabbed the remote for Wario's TV and switched to pinpointing location. I saw five faces on the screen of the whole area. Red was in the upper left corner, the mountains, which I didn't care for. Toon Link and Pit were distanced away from each other in the upper right, near the lake and in a forest area. Lucas was on the move, downward the river. However, Wario was almost at his campsite. If I had to guess, it was just for another half mile in his walk, but chances are, he would run.

"Going to save him?" questioned Bowser. "You know you aren't allowed to enter the testing world at all costs."

He was right. This time was supposed to be for the newcomers only. If I had entered, who knows what Master Hand would do to me. But this had to be a special reason. It has to be. He must understand that.

I ignored Bowser and immediately ran out the door. I looked left and right, trying to remember the room. I ran to my left and down the hallways, passing by my friends, and past through doors I didn't need. I had to hurry. It was only a matter of time before…

…

I found a silver door with a sign hanging that said "NO VETERANS" in red bold on it. This was the door. I twisted it open, but found it locked. No choice. I stood back, and sent out PK Thunder.

The door easily fell over onto the ground. I ran inside, finding transparent tubes with signs saying "Forest, Desert, Mountains, River, Lake, Arctic, Island," and a few others, along with two white floating hands to my right that were appalled by my sudden appearance.

"Ness!" exclaimed Master Hand. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I'm sorry!" I responded as I ran towards the "Forest" tube. "But this is an emergency! Look at Wario's screen!" I entered the tube as I stared at them with a face asking for forgiveness. They tried to reach for me, but by the time their fingertip could even touch the tube, I was already being transported.

I'm coming for you, Lucas.


	17. Initiation: Day 14

**Lenne: **Explicit content within this chapter has been moved to AFF. You may access it from my profile.

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><p><span>Chapter 17: Day 14<span>

Sitting on the rocky ground, feet only in water, I stared at the trees on the other side of the river. My eyes stared blankly at nothing else but the trees as my thoughts wavered.

Ness was the only name repeated in my mind. I couldn't stop thinking of him. His kindness for me. His care for me. His love for me. I felt like I wouldn't have made it this far without him. I couldn't ever repay him.

A scene kept repeating in my mind, over and over. The twelfth night. How I confessed to him, where fear running through my body, and my nervousness exposed. Though, he ended it all so sweetly with something I would have never expected him to do…

I shook my heads, trying to clear my thoughts. I gave a heavy sigh, and then I looked down at myself. I was still wearing my clothes, other than my shoes and socks which were sitting next to a large rock nearby. No more stalling, I thought. Time to clean up for the last time.

The water was still warm, which I was satisfied by. I stood up and put my fingers on my collar, still thinking about Ness. No, enough. I pulled it upwards and removed it, revealing my bare upper body.

I stared at the shirt as it was still wrapped around my arms. The similar pattern of the stripes reminded me of Ness. Heck, I reminded myself of Ness. I grinned to myself, enjoying the picture of Ness replaying in my mind.

Suddenly, the pebbles on the ground crunched. Footsteps would have been the only thing to make it possible. A monster? No, it wasn't a gorilla rat, or even a blood bear. When I turned my head, it was something worse.

"Oh…ho ho…what do we have here?" said the eerie voice.

Wario…I hoped I wished this didn't happen now.

"W-What do you want?" I said, trying to be brave. With my arms still wrapped by my shirt, I covered my most of my upper body.

"Oh, nothing much," he replied. I know he was lying. Anyone could. He was up to something. He kept walking towards me. By the time he was just a meter away, I began to back up. Wario always kept his wicked smile up, as if it was his real face, which I hoped not. Within a moment, I was stopped by a large rock, where my shoes were. Still trying to cover myself, I endured and hoped for the fortunate outcome.

But I didn't get it.

Wario was able to reach me by just extending his arm, and he did, touching the right side of my neck. I froze. I couldn't move. His touch, even though it was gentle, was too frightening. I wanted to run, but I couldn't. It's like he paralyzed me. He ran his fingers down, pausing once he reached my stretched shirt, but he reached further and touched my nipple. He gave it a squeeze. I wanted to shrug him off. But I had a feeling, if I did, he'd treat me more violent.

"Perhaps…" he mumbled loudly, "…I'll be gentle."

No…just don't…

He grabbed my shirt and pulled it out of my hands, tossing it to the side on the ground. He held my arms against the rock, keeping my body in place. He leaned his head closer, down to my body. I could smell his breath, and it was purely disgusting. I held my breath, and when I needed to breathe, I tried to with my mouth, a habit I was never satisfied with.

His lips were at my chest, but he put his tongue on the same nipple he touched. He slid his tongue up and down—making me gasp, and as much as I didn't want it to be, it was arousing, but I hated it! I don't like him at all! Someone…get him…off…

"Mmm…" he hummed. "Now, let's get serious…" His smile grew bigger, if it could. But as I was thrown off guard, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. He smashed it with his knee, making me want to gag. I couldn't, the pain was unbearable. He let me go, so I could hold my stomach as the pain continued to sting me. As I did, though, I heard something unzip.

I tried to look up. He was unbuttoning his pants.

No…no…no!

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><p>*AFF*<p>

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><p>My body froze...but my mind was still conscious. I guess it was me being half-awake again. I could hear Wario's wicked laughter, but then I heard him make a loud cry from shock.<p>

Wario, crying from shock? What happened?

I attempted to open my eyes, but I could only get them half open. I was lying on the ground, unable to feel parts of my body. I didn't see Wario's fat figure; instead, I saw familiar shoes, legs, and pants in front of me. I wanted to look up just a bit, and take a peek of the shirt design. Was it him? Was it you…Ness?

"Don't you _**dare **_touch him!" I heard. The voice was definitely Ness', but he was angry. "If you come near him again, I'll _kill_ you!"

I didn't hear anything from Wario. I only heard water splash and then dripping onto hard ground. Then, I felt footsteps rapidly shake the ground. I could then see Wario run away into the forest.

I kept my focus on the shoes. They were facing Wario's direction, until they hurryingly turned to me. "Lucas!" I heard. His legs bent down, and suddenly yet softly, I was lifted up. I saw his worried face.

"Are you okay?" he frantically asked.

I tried to smile. "Y-Yeah…" I felt so relaxed in his arms. I wanted to snuggle up against him, but he noticed my dirtiness.

Regardless, he caressed my cheek, smiling. "Let's get you cleaned up." He set me against the rock gently as he removed his clothes. After he was fully nude, he took off my shorts and underwear. The only difference in this process for me was that I didn't mind Ness undressing me. He helped me up and into the river. Without any soap to use, he scooped up water and rubbed the semen off me. I kept my eyes shut as he cleaned my face and even my upper body. I tried to clean myself as well, but I was still weak from the beating I took. It wasn't necessary though, because Ness washed my body multiple times and ensured I was cleansed. Once he was done, he wrapped his arm around my back and looked at me with his sweet eyes.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Better..." I whispered. Though, I couldn't help but cry, but I was glad I was finally able to. And once a tear fell, I rushed up to his chest and let the sadness flow out of me. I sobbed, holding him tight, and he returned my embrace. I wanted to say something, thank him, say "I love you" or anything...but I couldn't open my mouth. It was either from the fear still striking me...or I just couldn't feel the urge the open because of what happened. It wasn't necessary to say anything, though; Ness planted his lips on my cheek in an attempt to cheer me up, and spoke.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered. "I won't let something like this ever happen to you again…"

I kept crying, feeling so impacted by his words. We continued to embrace each other for a long moment as I continued my flow of tears. But I don't remember what happened after…

...I think I fainted.


	18. Initiation: Night 14

**Lenne:** Explicit content within this chapter has been moved to AFF. You may access it from my profile.

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><p><span>Chapter 18: Initiation: Night 14<span>

…

…Mm…

…

…I felt myself asleep. It was a wonderful rest. But as soon as I realized it, I slowly opened my eyes and saw a dark green tent material above me. Instantly, I could tell I was in the tent. I tried to move my body, each arm and leg slowly to wake the muscles, and eventually sat up. After rubbing out the sleep in my eyes, I yawned out the last of my weariness, and looked around. There was nothing else but me and my red sleeping bag. I took another peek at ceiling of the tent, and I found a faint light coming from the moon, telling me it was already night time.

I poked my head out the entrance of the tent, looking right first, and found nothing but the pile of rocks—the cage for the fish. I then looked left, and to my surprise, I saw a familiar backside facing a floating figure which I've already seen before. The floating figure was conspicuously larger, even if it were pure darkness. I blinked a few more times, confirming my vision. I had guessed it was Master Hand who was floating above the rocky river edge, and I was sure Ness was over there, talking to him.

* * *

><p>"You should have known better, Ness," Master Hand stated. "Rather than barging into the room, it would have been better to state it was an emergency."<p>

"I know," I replied. "But there was just no time. If I hadn't made it sooner, Lucas would have…" I couldn't bear to finish that sentence.

Master Hand sighed, if he could, and paused before he spoke again. "You say, he's assaulted both you and Lucas?"

"Yes," I responded, "violently and...sexually." Master Hand floated still, which I believed he was thinking about something right now.

"I see…I'll be sure to carry out appropriate measures." Master Hand rubbed his thumb and index finger together, likely thinking again.

"So…what about me?" I asked.

"I apologize, but rules are rules," he regrettably said. He made another short break, as if he was looking past me. I assumed he was looking at the waterfall behind me, or it was just out of boredom.

"However…" he started again, and I assured my ears were listening to every word.

* * *

><p>I was unable to hear what they were talking about. All I could do was watch their bodies move within the cool night. In moments, a light began to shine above them. Were they going away? No, please, I want Ness to stay with me a bit longer…<p>

The light began to shine brighter, and began to cover Master Hand and only Master Hand. In seconds, his figure began to dissipate. He disappeared, travelling into the blue light, which had then faded shortly after. Ness was the only person standing there at the moment.

He looked to the river. I had thought he was going to turn and see me. Just to act cute, I thought, I quickly crawled back inside and put myself back into my sleeping position and closed my eyes. As I expected, something began to enter the tent. Just by the psychic aura, I already knew it was Ness. I breathed normally, even though I was feeling extremely nervous. Butterflies kept fluttering in my stomach; I wondered what he was going to do with me, thinking I'm still asleep. I remained neutral even though I wanted to move my body.

Nothing much had happened. I assumed he sat there, just watching me. Then, I felt a hand run through my hair. It tickled a little, urging me to chuckle, but at the same time, it was comfortable. The sense of his touch was something I always wanted to keep near me, so I cherished every stroke and scratch he made in my hair, and soon down to my cheeks. He stopped after a short while, making me curious. Then, something pressed against my cheek. From the heat given off by the body, and from the spare lengths of hair hitting my forehead, Ness kissed my cheek, keeping there until he pulled back within seconds.

"I know you're awake," he said.

I giggled in my mind, opening my left eye. I saw his smile over me.

"How'd you know?" I asked, sitting up.

"I could sense your energy being active. It's…a psychic thing, I guess."

I stared at him, giving me back a comfortable smirk. I found happiness by only staring at his lovable, purple eyes. I threw myself at his right shoulder, resting on my side, allowing him to hold me in his arms. He carried me with no hesitation, accepting me quickly. I felt his lips touch my cheeks again, tickling me. We just sat there, enjoying the silence, and each other's warmth, until I brought up a question.

"What did you talk about with Master Hand?"

He was silent for a bit. Then, he replied, "Just…discussing about Wario. Master Hand said he was going to punish him."

"I hope he doesn't join the tournament…" I whispered out loud.

"So do I…" he had his free left hand play with my hair, an exquisite feeling that I'd now loved. I let him continue his gesture has he talked. "And, well, I got here without permission. We were talking about that too—how I just barged into the teleporters to get to you."

"How'd you find out I was in trouble?" I asked.

"I saw the TV. The initiation is broadcasted in a room in the mansion. When I saw Wario heading towards you, I had to come."

To hear the kindness Ness had warmed my heart again. I pushed myself up and kissed his lips for a moment, and then embraced him.

"Thank you," I said.

"It's no problem…" he continued to hug me, as well as bringing back the conversation. "I may get punished…because I interfered."

I pulled away, filled with half-worry and half-shock. "No…you can't."

He chuckled at my denial. "I have to, since I broke the rules." He brushed my hair with his fingers. "If something does happen to me…" he paused, looking down, "well…I don't know what Master Hand will do. Either he'll just give me a light consequence...or…"

"…or what?"

"…I could get kicked off the tournament."

At that point I gripped his shirt, trying to hold back tears. "No Ness…I don't want you to go."

"I don't want to leave either. We'll just have to see what Master Hand decides."

I couldn't say anything else. I felt like crying again. I looked down, trying to hide my watered eyes from his sight. But, he pulled me in for another hug. His hand rubbed up and down my back, treating me as if I was crying. I did let a few tears drop, but no more than a sniff was released. I sat still, again enjoying the comfort of his arms, and continued to bury my eyes on his shoulder.

"Hey," Ness whispered. "How about we… …treat this like my last night too?"

I blushed, full of rapid thoughts filling my mind. "How so?" I guessed the answer when he signaled me to lie down. I did as so, and he crawled on top of me, his head just above mine. My heart almost burst when he kissed me, mainly because I was put in this position. I had my hands push lightly on his chest, wanting a bit of air and a question.

"Ness," I began, "aren't we being watched?"

"Oh," he replied, "I asked Master Hand to turn off your TV. Besides, if the TV was on anyways, nobody would be in the room at this time."

I didn't really believe that. "…Are you sure?"

"Positive." He leaned back down, but stopped and sat back up when he saw my still worried face. He grinned, caressing my cheek. "If anything happens, I'll protect you."

"N-no, it's not that…" I responded. I was highly anxious about this. I knew what Ness was going to do, and I wanted it too, yet I couldn't get the immense nervousness out of myself.

"…Oh," he said, smiling at me again. "I see...well, if you don't want to, then…"

"N-No! No, I want to. I'm ready."

I couldn't believe the things I was saying to him. It felt so embarrassing and stupid at the same time, but they were erased from my mind as soon as Ness leaned back down, giving me one more smile before we kissed again. As the heat of his lips met mine, I held him tight, gripping weakly onto him, unable to take dominance.

* * *

><p>*AFF*<p>

* * *

><p>We didn't fall asleep yet. Minutes after recovery, Ness pulled on his boxers and I put on my white briefs. Both of us were lazy to put on the rest of the clothes, and we were already settled in my sleeping bag. Because of the little room, I rested myself on his shoulder, though I would have done so regardless.<p>

"Hey, Lucas," Ness whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Remember when I said I'll take you somewhere special?" I recalled he had said that back then, the night of when he left.

"Yes. You said you would take me to it. What is it, anyways?"

"I'll show you when we get there."

"You don't want to tell me?"

"It's supposed to be a surprise."

"You know I can read your mind, right?" I had the urge to lift myself up and made forehead contact again.

"That'll ruin it though." He nuzzled his nose with mine, making both of us giggle.

"…Do you leave soon?" I asked.

"No, I'm sleeping with you. But I'm going to leave earlier than you, so you won't see me in the morning."

"...Really?"

"Yeah."

I was content he wasn't leaving now, but the thought of him leaving me before I would know it depressed me. In order to rid of that thought, I had to enjoy our time now. Now is one of our best moments together, and it'll be a memory that would forever be in my mind…so long as Master Hand doesn't do anything…

Ness spoke after a small sigh, "Wanna sleep now?"

"No." We both chuckled at my response. He turned his body over and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me closer to rest on his chest. I heard him yawn above my head. I could already tell Ness was too tired now, so I shouldn't push him further. It was time to sleep.

I closed my eyes, feeling a hand ruffle the back of my head. The tender scratch helped me fall half-asleep, and I had begun to shut my eyes completely.

"Good night, Lucas," he whispered.

Under the influence of sleep, I responded softly, "Good night, Ness…" His grasp around me grew a bit tighter, warming me.

Not much filled my mind. I entered a peaceful, black and blank state. But I did repeat a few words before my slumber.

I love you, Ness.


	19. End of the Initiation

**6/15/12**

So I just realized I replaced Ch19 with Ch20. Whynoonetellme

So I'm going to leave it as is for the moment and fix what was on here last time.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 19: End of the Initiation<span>

The next morning was the last morning in the testing world.

I slept happily on my side, rubbing the tent material with my nails.

Wait, what?

I rubbed open my eyes and sat up immediately. I turned my head back and forth and twice more to make sure that this wasn't my imagination. Ness was already gone.

I knew Ness was going to leave early, but I didn't expect to be this much hurt once I woke up to his absence. Yet, I reminded myself, I was going to see him soon.

When I tried to move my bottom any further, I felt pain from my bottom. When I reached over to try and rub it, I remembered what had just happened last night. Flushed with embarrassing memories from my moaning, I grabbed my shirt, shorts, and shoes that were set to the side.

I crawled out the tent door and stood up, still aching from my behind. I first stared at the river, and then at the wall of rocks for the fish. Empty as it was last night, I looked at the campfire. There was nothing more to grab for breakfast.

I walked around the tent and looked up and down the river bank, hoping for some sort of signal—a signal to allow me to exit this world. I was already done, wasn't I? It's been fourteen days and nights. I don't want to spend a fifteenth morning. Besides, I wanted to see Ness as soon as possible.

Nothing unnatural was in sight. What do I do now? Just wait for something to happen?

Wanting to do nothing, I walked to the woods. I did feel scared something was going to appear, like a gorilla bat, a blood bear, or even that disgusting pervert. I didn't feel like fighting at all, and I don't think I could with the pain that Ness left with me. Each tree, I set my hand on to give support, and sat down after a while to rest my legs. But, I went on, as if in an impulse to find something.

Soon, a blue circle of light illuminated on the ground. It was in the same place that Ness and I had arrived in on the first day. Slowly walking further, I reached the blue light. When I stepped all of my body in, the circle began to shine brighter. My hair lifted higher, and soon my body was. I was floating upward, and at the same time, all the weariness left my body. The aching I had in my butt was relieved too. I continued to fly upwards, almost reaching the top of a tree's height, but a white light began to consume me. I shut my eyes with my arms, embracing for the next event.

When I regained consciousness, I began to hear some voices. They weren't clear at all. Opening my eyes, I found myself lying down under a white room. It was literally full of white-colored furniture—the floor was white, the table and chairs were white, and the TV box was even white. I slipped off the bed and looked at the door on my left. The muffled voices I had heard were being emitted from there. I walked up to it and opened the door.

It was a hallway, the same as it was before the introduction of the initiation. Most, if not all of the newcomers were in the hall. A few were sitting in chairs, and some couldn't because they were either a robot or they didn't want to. When I looked at the doors they exited from, there were glowing yellow letters above them, each spelling out a newcomers' name. Above my door, obviously spelled my name. When I looked at it, it turned from dark white to the same glowing yellow. It must have meant I had just arrived. I turned around and looked at the other side of the hallway. Doors were there as well, but there were glowing red X's above them. A white checkmark was set next to them, pale with white.

I looked around further. At least every new face I saw at the introduction room was here—a few were talking to each other in small groups or sitting or standing, doing nothing with closed eyes. Though, one wasn't here. I even looked left and right twice. Wario wasn't here. And when I looked at the doors, there wasn't a door with his name on it. I guess he must have been expelled.

Nearby, a voice called my name.

"Lucas!"

I turned my head, and Pit, Toon Link, and Red were there gathered together. They walked up to me with smiling faces.

"You made it!" Red said. They had their hands up, and I gave each of them a slap with my hand.

"Didn't have it easy, did you?" Red asked.

"It was fine for me," I replied. To be honest, the only parts I hated were fighting the monsters. There was also the time when Ness got injured. And then the time when…

Pit spoke in time to remove my further thoughts. "Man, you guys had it easy," he said. "Link and I had to fight a bunch of those monsters, especially those bears."

"What, did you fight like, an army of them?" Toon Link remarked.

"Almost! We picked a deep cave for our campsite, and we didn't know it had a lot of dormant bears!"

"Tough," Red said with a giggle.

"Whatever. You guys are just lucky you didn't fight a lot."

"Are you kidding? I had my butt saved a bunch of times by Zelda because of those sneaky croco-moles! You're lucky you can fly!"

"Guess I easily had it," Red said. He pulled out a large golden key from his pocket. "I found this in the mountains, so I got here earlier than everyone. Along with Lucario and a few other guys, like that big guy over there." Red pointed to the black-armored man leaning against the wall, which Toon Link gave another disgusted sight for.

"Ganondorf," he mumbled.

"Yeah, whatever," Red said. "So, how was the test for you, Lucas?"

"I…fought a lot. Ness helped me a bunch of times too. But then he got hurt, so I had to help him."

"Oh yeah," Toon Link said. "He got hit by a croco-mole. He's fine now, right?"

I nodded. "When he came back to visit me his injury was gone…" Oh crap. What did I just say?

"When he came back to…what?" Pit asked.

"Nothing," I responded. I hoped they didn't get on to me.

Thankfully, a blare sounded nearby. In fact, multiple tones began to consecutively sound—each red X became pale and then the checkmark beeped green. It must have meant we were allowed to enter.

"Guess we gotta go," Pit said. "Well, I guess we'll see each other later." He gave us a proud grin and walked off, lifting the back of his hand at us before opening his door and stepping into a light.

The other newcomers began to enter their doors. And when each door had closed behind them, they disappeared. Soon, the wall began to become a white barrier with just a few doors left.

"We'll see you later than, Lucas," Toon Link said. We gave each other a light punch on the fist and he ran off to his door. Red gave me two fingers and winked, running off as well to his door.

I looked at mine. It stood there, waiting for me. And I knew, beyond it, Ness was waiting. I twisted it open, and entered the unknown light.

Beyond it was the same white room I had arrived in, but the furniture was gone. The only things in the room was an illuminated gate of the Smash Mansion, and right, and right in front of me was the person I yearned to see.

"Ness!"

He turned around, smiling at me. I ran up to him and we embraced each other tightly. I felt like I was going to burst, from the happiness and how tight he held me, but he loosened his grip and kissed my head.

"I'm so happy you're here," I said.

"Same," he replied. We were still holding each other, giving blithesome grins. He pulled my head in for a gentle kiss, making me blush and giggle after I pulled away. I was enjoying our moment too much. When he let go of my body, he held out something to me. It was a hard piece of paper. On it were gold letters and a fancy design, congratulating my success in the initiation, and a welcoming message to the Brawl world.

When I accepted it, I felt a different texture under my right fingers. When I moved them around, I found out there was something else under it. It was an envelope, sealed with a sticker with the figure of a right hand. It must have been from Master Hand.

When I looked back at Ness, his smile changed slightly. And being his lover, it was not surprising for me to notice it. I did feel that he was happy, but sad at the same time…why?

"Everyone's waiting," he said. "Are you ready?"

I nodded, eager to finally enter the world of Smash. He took my hand, and we both stood before the illuminating picture. Before we could step, Ness tightened the grip on my hand.

"Lucas," he said.

"Yeah?" I looked at him, but his smile turned so little. I definitely knew he was saddened about something. Before I could ask him what was wrong, he gave me a few last words.

"No matter what, I promise to protect you, even though…I'll never be the same again."

The same…again…? Ness forced the both of us into the hole before I could ponder about the thought. Light consumed us once again, transporting us into the world we've been waiting for.

We solidified from light and landed into a grassland. Already, some of the newcomers and their veterans were wondering where they were. One by one, the rest of the fighters began to appear around us.

Right ahead of us, just meters away, was a large building, surrounded by stone walls. It was the very same building that we all had seen before entering: the Smash Mansion.

Master Hand appeared beyond us, floating in the sky. "Brawlers!" he shouted, "Welcome to the Smash Mansion!"

Many cheers erupted from the crowd, while the rest smirked awaiting for their adventure. The excited ones began to dash on ahead to the building, even Ness, who had just let go of my hand. He looked back at me, smirking widely and asking me to hurry on. I continued to watch everyone leave, until I was the last one, behind the black armored man named Ganondorf. I was about to dash on with everyone, until Master Hand began to float towards me.

He stopped before me and spoke in a softer voice. "I see you have not read the letter yet," he said. I looked down at the letter in my right hand.

"That letter," he resumed, "contains the details of your compensation for…your harsh experience. In addition, I've detailed to you about Ness' punishment."

"Ness' punishment?" I questioned.

"Yes. I apologize for any future saddening. I am not a harsh figure at all, but rules are rules. I hope you do understand." He turned around and soared away, disappearing in the air.

Curious to the contents of the letter, I removed the sticker and took out the piece of paper. I began to read it.

_"Dear Lucas,_

_I am Master Hand. This letter encloses the details of a few things: the recompense of your unexpected assaults, the man known as Wario, and a message from Ness."_

When I saw Ness' name, I had to continue reading.

_"Firstly, I would like to congratulate you on your success. But prior to your triumph, you have encountered an assault made by a brawler—an action that was clearly against the rules of the initiation. As compensation, I have given you and your roommate a larger bedroom with more entertainment contents, as well as, for you, three requests to my brother, Crazy Hand, or I, Master Hand. These wishes may be anything, such as carrying a punishment any sort to carry out on a fellow Brawler, or a temporary request to visit your home world at any time. Note that some wishes may not be granted depending on the content. This may not seem like much, but I hope this is enough._

_Regarding the brawler known as "Wario", know that he is not expelled from the Smash world."_

Anger and fear built up within me at that sentence.

_"From the report of his veteran, and from watching his survivability, I have concluded he is a fine addition to the Brawl tournament. I assume you feel frustration. Do not fear, I have put a limit to his time here: if he decides to assault you once more, I will immediately carry out appropriate punishments."_

My heart soothed from knowing I would be safe from now on. Then, came something I didn't want to read.

"_Finally, I now conclude this with the details of Ness' punishment. I am well aware that you and him have a relationship. I do not having a liking nor disliking—I am neutral to your feelings. However, it is paining to inform you of this: **his memories have been manipulated**. All that remains in his mind are sociable conversations, your team work to take down the beasts, and a friendly farewell from your time together. The memory of Wario interfering with the both of you has also been erased. I have locked the feelings of his love for you away._

My heart became so much of a heavy anchor that I dropped to my knees. I couldn't believe it. No wonder Ness said he wouldn't be the same anymore. He... no longer loved me.

_"And now, I close this with one final message from Ness:_

_Dear Luke,_

_Hiya! I'm sure what Master Hand has said is…very sad. It depressed me too, knowing I would no longer love you anymore. But hey, I can love you again, can't I? Just try not to be too lovey-dovey on me early or I could get awkward around you. Don't do that to me, okay? I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want that._

_I don't know how much of my feelings Master Hand would let me keep, but I know I'm going to protect you. I just know it. Even though it's not going to be same, I'm going to be like any friend, and help you in any way you need. I know that you depend on me, and I love that about you. So, keep close with me, because then, we could love each other again._

_When I do love you again, tell me of what actually happened in the initiation too. I want to know that I already loved you before I had my memories erased._

_I don't have much more to say. I…well, I'll always love you Luke, okay? Actually, I guess Master Hand won't let that happen… still, take good care of our friendship, all right?_

_Love you with all my heart,_

_Ness."_

I let the paper drop on the ground, unable to hold it anymore. I just couldn't believe it. Tears began to flow from my eyes, and it dropped on the letter and my certificate. I fell down, punching the dumb letter out of frustration.

I was still, holding the papers under my fists, allowing my sobs to bounce in the air. I didn't want to stand up and go to the mansion, knowing I just lost who I love. Even though his body is there, his soul is different now. What could I do now? Just admire him from afar?

I continued to cry out loud, trying to release all the pain in my heart. But then I just sat still, imagining myself in a space of isolation.

A voice called me out of my thoughts. I looked up and found Ness. He saw my red face and rushed up to me, got to my level and held onto my shoulder. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

The kindness he showed already made me miss him. I tossed myself at his shoulder and continued to cry. He didn't reject it—he held onto me. "There, there…"

We sat still there until I finished my flow of tears. He didn't seem at all awkward when I suddenly cried on his shoulder. Rather, he attempted to cheer me up, even though he was unaware of why I was crying. He held onto my wrist and we walked to the mansion together. With each step towards the house, I had the urge to breakdown once more. But I had to be strong for Ness.

From now on, only time will allow us to be together again. I had to build up the strength until that day.


	20. Epilogue

**Lenne:** Hiya everyone!

Okay so I'm going to give my notes here rather than at the end. I feel that things get all weird if I explain stuff at the ending. Because it is a good ending. Oh crap WHY DID I SPOILER

Anyways, I originally planned to do a sequel story. But if I did that, it'd be much more work on my plate. I really do want to do a sequel, but I really want to work on doing the other stories. I mean, there's That One Boy, Love Driver, and the one-shots that are either ecchi or lemon or whatever. So I apologize for those that wanted or expected a sequel story.

Well, I don't want to hold you guys back any longer. Thank you all for supporting this story. I hope you enjoy the ending!

And leave a cookiew/revookie!

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 20: Epilogue<span>

Only six months has passed since the initiation.

During the time, my friendship with Toon Link, Red, and Pit grew greater. I even made new friends—Popo and Nana, the Ice Climbers, Pikachu, whose thoughts I could hear, and Kirby, who I could never understand most of the time. Whenever we were playing, we always looked like we were a bundle of kids having fun together. I was always with someone, whether it was my newcomer friends or the veterans. Whenever I was alone, I tried to look for someone desperately. But that never happened, because I still had Ness. He was always by my side. Or rather, I was always by his side.

We eventually became known as the psychic duo—a bond that could never be broken.

Every day he would always watch over me. Every day we always played with each other. Every day I always woke to his cheerful smile, or his whining wanting me to get up. And every other day we sparred with only each other.

I was so happy. Not only we shared every activity we did together, he protected me as he had promised. Whenever we fought someone like Wolf or Bowser, Ness would defend me from getting hurt. He took the hits and allowed me to act as back-up. And after the match, they would attempt to bully us. Usually Ness would make them back off, but if Ness did get hurt by their physical actions, I had to care for him, ending with a statement that put the blame on me. But he wanted to take the blame instead, and he didn't mind. He liked protecting me.

I was so grateful to have Ness. Everything about him was perfect for me. And it seemed like I was perfect for him.

Life with Ness was great. Though I was still… sad.

I tried to lock the agony away in my heart, but I still couldn't get over the fact that the one I loved just disappeared. And he was almost always in my sight, so how could I just forget about him? How could I forget the past kindness he showed me? How could I forget our first meeting? Our accidental kiss? Our help for each other? And our inter…course…

I couldn't forget all that. Even though I loved those memories, they haunted my mind. Every piece of each scene could never break even if I wanted them to. Ness was always in my mind.

…

…

…

I lied on my bed, staring at the ceiling. I was still amazed by the fact that this room was vast, and this was just an upgrade as I was promised. It had a large TV, all gaming consoles, two PCs on two desks next to each other, two closets, two comfortable beds, two closets, two whatever else. All of it belonged to me and Ness.

I looked over to my side. Ness was taking a nap, being tired from our practice sparring an hour ago. I had just woken up, only to be reminiscing thoughts.

I could not forget the day I came here. It was the day my soul almost died. I had gotten the news that Ness no longer loved me.

It may had just been love, but it was a love that I didn't want to let go. I couldn't ever let it go. I clutched my chest every time the thought of the test came up. Even I was doing it right now, gripping my shirt and skin so hard to try and erase agony with pain.

When Ness saw me doing this alternative for curing depression, he wanted me to stop. I couldn't tell him why I was doing it at all. I wouldn't know how he would take it. I had promised him to stop hurting myself, but I eventually broke it.

I softly sighed, continuing thoughts of the past.

Wario, my assaulter, seemed to try to get away from me anytime he saw me with Ness. I didn't know what he was afraid of. By now he should have known Ness doesn't remember what he's done, but I was still glad he was my protection.

And because of Wario, I got three requests of anything I wanted to ask of Master Hand or Crazy Hand. I already used two of them.

One was to ask to change Ness back to normal. But Master Hand couldn't do that, as it would just make the punishment useless. So instead, I asked to visit my home world with Ness, so he could see the world I came from. He was excited by the new world that I created, remembering the quest I was on. It was like a new place. We stayed there for a couple of days, swimming in a private ocean area, and camping out in the forest. We weren't allowed to make contact with anyone. It saddened me; I wanted to see my friends, and my dog. But rules were rules.

The second request was because of Red. I had never expected someone like him to actually have a crush on me. When I tried to nicely reject him, he begged for me to be his boyfriend. He said that he would take care of me, do whatever I want for him to do for me, and such and such. But Ness was already doing that, and I told him that. A few days later, I began hearing from Ness that Red seemed to hate him. Soon after that, he began throwing insults at him during brawls. He even threw a few at me. I was getting frustrated by the new him, so the second wish was to change Red's memories. After that, Red just became a usual friend again.

I saved the third request because the last one was always important. But it just came to my attention that being with Ness hurt me. I always loved him, but he never showed the same feelings to me. I wanted to tell him I loved him, or even give hints, but I could never. I felt like I would freeze up in front of him, or faint from being very nervous. In fact, I was always flustered when we were with each other. At times, he even held my hand, but that was because I let him, and we both agreed it was an act of a very close friendship. But I always thought of it that he may have liked me too, but I didn't want to get my hopes up.

Life with Ness was…stressful.

I didn't want the stress. I didn't want the memory of Ness' lost love with me. Either I had to confess to him, and hope that he'd feel the same again…

…or use my third request to have my memories manipulated.

…

…

…

Days later, I decided for the latter. I decided to see Master Hand immediately after my match with Toon Link.

I exited the bathroom after washing myself of sweat. I took a few minutes to let myself rest from the fight, and then I decided to head out. Right before I touched the door, there was a knock.

"Lucas?" it said. "Are you in there?"

It was obviously Ness. Feeling elated that it was him, I opened it.

"Yeah?"

He smiled at me. "I was wondering if you could go with me somewhere. If you're not busy that is."

"Where to?"

"It's a secret."

I got curious. I could see Master Hand later. I decided to go with him. We immediately left as soon as I agreed.

Where Ness had led me to was outside the mansion. It was surprising for me, because other than the courtyard, I had never been outside the mansion. We walked for a while, and we arrived at a large tree. It just stood here, giving off a large amount of shade.

"Is this it?" I asked.

"Come here," he replied. He walked around the tree and I followed. I soon began to see what he wanted me to see.

Behind the large tree was a field of flowers below us. It was such an amazing sight. I had never seen so many colors before. To think that this was here the whole time…the Brawl world was amazing.

"This is my relaxing spot," Ness said. "I always come here when I want to be alone. Seeing the flowers makes me feel calm." He sat down and took a look at a spot of a blue circle of flowers. "No one really comes here but me."

I sat down beside him. "So, why'd you bring me?"

"I wanted you to see this too. I remember you like flowers. Sunflowers, too, right?" He pointed at a spot away from us. Right over there was a small patch of yellow and brown that stood proud. Finding the spot, I stood up and rushed to the flower field.

I sat down and caressed the petal of the flower. I could feel every memory of my home world in the sunflowers. It was like they wanted to talk to me.

Soon, Ness came by and sat down with me. He picked up a flower and stared at it, giving off his pleased smile. Then, he turned to me and brought the flower to my head. I was a bit shocked at what he was doing, but all he did was place the sunflower in the little gap between my head and my ear. Ness looked at me, and all I did was blush.

"It kind of fits you."

"Really?"

"Yeah." I wanted to hug him for his compliment, but I remembered we weren't _that_ close. I only smiled as a response.

"You look _cute_," he mentioned.

…Did he just call me cute? No way. He must be joking.

"You're lying," I responded.

"No, really."

My face grew darker in red, if it could. Is he really serious?

It was awkward between us for the moment. We only sat near each other. I was sure Ness was thinking, "Why did I make things awkward for us? Why did I even say that to him?" All I thought of was if I should confess to him. I should, actually. If it doesn't work out as I want, then I could have the third request manipulate both of our minds.

But nervousness struck me as powerful as I thought it would. I wanted to speak, let a stutter out, or just lick my lips, but my body couldn't move. I wanted to hurry up and tell Ness, but at the same time, I wanted to run away. I was stuck.

"Hey, Luke," I heard. My body regained its movement when I responded.

"Y-Yes?"

He scooted closer. Our legs were almost touching.

"I've been wondering…do you like me? More than just a friend?"

A bomb just destroyed part of my soul.

"W-Why would y-you ask that...?"

"Well, I heard from Red that you had a crush on me. I thought it was just a joke, but I've beginning to notice that you get nervous around me."

_Why, Red, why!_

"R-Really?"

"Yeah, like now."

This was just torture. I wanted to die. I buried my face in my knees.

"And well," Ness continued, "I'm trying to remember something important. I don't get it, but it feels like I liked you a long time ago."

"…because you did," I whispered.

"Huh?"

I turned my head to him. "I really like you. No, I'm in love with you. And you fell in love with me during the initiation. But you don't remember because Master Hand changed your memories. So now all you think of me is as a friend. And I…"

I couldn't hold back the tears. "I wanted you to love me back, but I was so scared that we would never be friends again." I raised my voice a bit, now in anger. "I hated Master Hand for taking you away! I've been so sad ever since! I wanted you back! That's why I…"

I stopped ranting, and threw my head at my legs. The river in my eyes grew stronger. Each sniff grew louder. But I calmed down when a finger brushed against my chin. I lifted my head up, and found Ness just smiling. He leaned towards me and pressed his lips against my cheek.

What?

My face froze as he pulled away, gazing at me with his sweet purple eyes. My flow of tears had suddenly stopped from his kiss. I still couldn't believe what he just did. He shouldn't have done that. He wasn't supposed to be in love with me.

Unless...

"Don't be sad. I like you too. Or rather…" he scooted even closer and wrapped me in his arm. "…I love you too."

Just how? How was this possible? Did he regain his memories?

"W-When?" I asked.

"Since we first met."

Impossible. His memories must have been changed.

"No way, Master Hand should have changed your memories."

"Honestly…I wasn't so sure of it myself. After we settled in our room, I got a weird headache when I saw you asleep. It was like something in my mind was trying to burst open. I eventually just forgot about it, but a week ago, I found a letter in your room from Master Hand. And I saw the message. That was when I remembered. I remembered I fell in love with you."

No wonder Ness noticed I've been acting so weird around him. It wasn't something a best friend would notice immediately. And maybe Ness remembered he would show me this secret place.

And like the letter said, maybe he always loved me since then.

"So, you remember everything?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Ev-ery-thing?" I repeated.

"Yeah. I remember we bathed in the river. I remember Wario tried to rape the both of us. And I remember we had…sex." We both blushed at that fact. "And I do remember doing this."

He leaned in and pressed against my lips. My face grew even redder as another few tears began to flow from my eyes out of joy. He pulled away, leaving the both of us smiling. I threw myself at his shoulder and held him tight.

"I missed you so much," I whispered. My tears dropped onto his shirt. Ness held me tight, rubbing his hand on my back. We sat still in the cool breeze, enjoying each other's embrace as we had a long time ago.

All the agony resting in my heart faded away. There was no longer a place for sadness now that Ness was back. It was like a miracle.

…

…

…

We sat next to each other under the tree. I rested my head on his shoulder, gazing at the vast beauty of the flowers. Both of us were silent, but words were not needed at all. Now that we were both together again, all we needed was our minds. I could already read from him that he wanted to stay like this with me forever. I wanted the same as well.

But I grew too tired that I fell asleep, and he woke me up after he noticed. Both of us stood up and we began walking back to the mansion.

Midway before reaching home, Ness adjusted the sunflower in my ear, making sure I looked as cute as ever. I couldn't help giving a stupid smile, but it was a stupid smile that Ness always loved.

"So Luke," he said. "The letter said you have three requests for Master Hand because of what Wario did. Have you used them yet?"

"All but the last one."

"Think of anything yet?"

I wrapped my arms around him under his arms, and he held me as I wanted him to. "Yeah. Can you guess what it is?"

He smiled at me. "I think I know." He kissed me one more time.

And, he did know. He was definitely my lover.

…

…

…

Immediately after our reunion, Ness pushed our single beds together. But shortly after, the two beds were switched to one single double bed, all thanks to Ness. Because of him, I was snuggling up to his neck every night.

...And it was perfect for us to have lots of intercourse...

Ness and I grew closer than ever if possible. I always held his hand everywhere we walked, or held his arm close to me and laid my head on his shoulder when we sat together. Eventually, we came out to our friends, and somehow the word spread to everyone. But, no one minded at all, of course, except for Wario, who had given death glares at me. But Ness gave a better death glare that returned fear to him, and he always made me laugh with it.

Despite all that, Ness and I truly were an unstoppable psychic duo.

Nothing could ever break our bond. Not even Master Hand. As long as we were together, our love would conquer anything.

For my third request, I wanted Master Hand grant that we would be happily together forever.

And, we did, even though I never even had to ask for it.


End file.
